■^?****'S 


taiaMMHw«>iiitHiyt>WHHt8wcii>ii;i»mith.-v;m 


kN  IP  1900 


Oivisien, 

Section. 

No 


Christian  Science 


What   it   is,  What   is   New,  and  What  is 
True  about  it 


BY      / 

REV.  WILLIAM  SHORT,  M.  A. 

Rector  St.  Peter's  Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  BY 
Rt.  Rev.  HUGH  MILLER  THOMPSON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

BISHOP  OF  MISSISSIPPI 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  WHITTAKER 

2  AND  3  BIBLE  HOUSE 

1899 


Copyright,  1899 
By  THOMAS  WHITTAKER 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

A  NEW  RELIGION,  AND  SOME  OF  ITS  CHARACTERISTICS. 

FA6B 

Various  sects — Its  origin — Souvenir  spoons — The  Gospel 
of — Science  and  health — A  rediscovery — The  Key- 
stone of  the  system— Claims  prove  nothing — An  ef- 
fort at  self-deception — A  bad  form  of  bigotry — The 
old  path  safer i 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NAME  A   MISNOMER. 

Neither  Christian  nor  scientific — A  bid  for  popularity — 

Illogical  conclusions — Cabalistic 20 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE    DANGEROUS    AND 
IMMORAL. 

An  intellectual  sin,  and  logical  comedy — A  formula  for 
immorality— Appeal  to  history — Its  theology  panthe- 
istic     .      28 

CHAPTER  IV. 

MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED. 

Methods  of  disarming  criticism— A  lost  heritage— The 
methods  of  Jesus — The  principle  the  same — The 
power  of  healing  the  birthright  of  man — Psychic 
forces  control  functions — The  secret  revealed — The 
two  minds — Testimony  of  physicians — Shall  the 
Church  endeavor  to  regain  its  lost  heritage  ? — Con' 
elusion 38 

APPENDIX 57 


Introduction. 

Theee  has  been  growing  up  of  late,  I  am 
told,  a  thing  calling  itself  Christian  Science. 
Personally,  I  have  not  been  brought  into  con- 
tact with  it.  Except  by  what  I  see  in  the 
ordinary  printing  in  newspapers  and  the  read- 
ing of  books  for  or  against  it,  I  am  uninformed 
about  its  present  conditions.  I  identify  it,  how- 
ever, without  difficulty. 

Its  headquarters  are,  I  am  told,  in  Boston, 
and  it  has  also  representatives  in  Chicago  and 
other  towns. 

It  seems  it  has  made  considerable  noise  also 
in  St.  Louis. — So  much  noise  that  the  Eev. 
William  Short,  the  author  of  these  lectures,* 
felt  it  his  duty  to  deliver  them  in  his  Church 
first,  and  then  to  reprint  them. 

I  read  the  Lectures  with  great  interest.  It 
is  but  according  to  ancient  wisdom  to  say, 
"  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  and  it 
seems  that  the  ancient  Gnosticism  of  the  ear- 
liest centuries,  the  "  Anti-Christ  that  is  even 
now  come,"  is  working  again  under  the  same 

V 


Vi  INTRODUCTION. 

conditions.  "We  have  a  melange^  as  of  old,  of 
Oriental  mysticism  and  thaumaturgy,  under 
Christian  names,  an  attempt  to  connect  our 
Lord  with  the  wild  dreams  of  Eastern  Pan- 
theism, and  to  turn  His  religion,  His  morals 
and  ethics,  into  contempt,  because  the  Body 
which  He  wore,  in  which  He  was  crucified, 
which  died  and  rose  again,  is  only  a  dream,  a 
phantasm — may  do  what  it  will  without  sin, 
because  Sin,  like  the  Body,  has  no  existence ! 

It  is  interesting  to  not^,  as  the  philosophic 
Historian  will,  that  Gnosticism  in  the  modern 
form  of  Christian  Science,  Occultism,  and  other 
degenerations  of  Human  Intelligence,  arises 
and  flourishes  under  the  same  conditions  as  it 
did  1900  years  ago. 

A  civilization,  rich,  luxurious,  utterly  mate- 
rial, a  political  corruption  profound,  and  ac- 
cepted, an  absence  of  spiritual  apprehension 
in  morals  and  ethics,  great  intelligence,  and  a 
debased  family  life;  a  degeneration  in  man- 
hood, and  especially  in  the  shameless  and  piti- 
ful conditions  among  womankind — so  that  the 
untranslatable  epigrams  of  Martial  can  describe 
life  in  New  York,  Chicago,  or  Boston  as  they 
did  in  Kome  in  its  rottenness — that  conditions 
like  these  should  find  expression  in  an  utterly 
sensual  philosophy,  under  spiritual  names,  in 
a  caricature  of  Christianity  which  leaves  out 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

duty,  in  principles  which,  logically  followed, 
justify  and  lead  to  all  uncleanness,  does  not 
surprise  a  philosopher. 

In  this  Gnosticism,  as  old  as  Christianity, 
women  have  been  especially  prominent,  from 
Helena,  the  mistress  of  Simon  Magus  down, 
sometimes  as  originators  and  leaders,  mostly 
as  the  helpers  and  exhibitors  for  the  men. 

The  author  of  these  Lectures  has  brought 
out  the  real  nature  of  this  so-called  "  Christian 
Science"  as  another  form  of  the  old  Anti- 
Christianism,  which,  known  as  Gnosticism, 
Manicheism,  or  what  not,  denies  the  existence 
of  the  Human  Body,  or  blames  the  Body  for 
all  evil — and  so,  as  he  shows,  has  logically  al- 
ways led  to  the  denial  of  bodily  sin — for  how 
can  that  which  does  not  exist  commit  sin  ? 

He  is  careful  to  say  that  those  who  are 
teaching  this  wild  Hinduism  (for  it  was  from 
the  first  an  attempt  to  graft  Orientalism  on 
Christianity)  are  not  conscious  of  the  outcome. 
They  never  were.  They  never  reason  to  con- 
clusions. Many  of  the  originators,  in  the  old 
days,  were  even  stern  ascetics. — Since  the  body 
has  no  existence,  why  shall  I  pay  any  heed  to 
it  ? — but  the  e7id  was  always  the  same.  "  The 
Body  is  nothing,  the  material  world  is  noth- 
ing. Ko  other  man's  or  woman's  body  has  any 
real  existence.     The  real  Humanity  cannot  be 


Viii  INTRODUCTION. 

affected  by  anything  these  non-existent  bodies 
do  with  other  non-existent  bodies  or  things." 

It  turned  out  rather  bad  results  in  Alexan- 
dria, Corinth,  Ephesus,  and  other  highly  civi- 
lized centres  of  wealth  and  culture.  "Will  it  be 
a  gospel  leading  to  high  thoughts  and  lofty  liv- 
ing in  such  unsensuous  and  spiritually-minded 
communities  as  Boston  and  Chicago  ? 

It  is  well  that  the  author,  and  other  clergy 
are  paying  especial  attention  to  the  new  form 
of  the  old  Anti-Christianism.  It  is  not  mere 
silliness,  nor  a  meaningless  insanity. 

Hugh  Miller  Thompson. 

Battle  Hill,  Miss.,  May  20,  1899. 


"  Beloved,  believe  not  every  Spirit,  but  try 
the  Spirits  whether  they  are  of  God;  because 
many  false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the 
world. — 1  John  iv.  1. 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  NEW  RELIGION,  AND    SOME  OF  ITS  CHAR- 
ACTERISTICS. 

There  is  a  movement  of  thought  and  of 
practical  living  which  has  attracted  much 
attention  of  late,  which  is  popularly  known  as 
Christian  Science.  Having  started  only  about 
thirty  years  ago,  it  now  claims  some  400 
societies  in  the  United  States,  which  it  calls 
churches,  and  has  some  5,000  teachers  and 
healers,  who  are  said  to  be  engaged  in  propa- 
gating its  peculiar  tenets.  By  the  force  of  its 
new  enthusiasm,  the  novelty  of  its  methods 
and  the  strangeness  of  its  rather  startling 
doctrines,  it  has  attracted  widespread  atten- 
tion, and  induced  not  a  few  to  leave  their  own 
churches  to  join  it,  as  the  newest  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

I  speak  of  Christian  Science  as  a  new 
religion,  because  while  it  is  primarily  a  theory 
of  mental  therapeutics,  yet  it  claims  to  be 
more.  Its  purpose  is  avowedly  religious,  and 
its  aim  is  nothing  less  than  the  reconstruction 
of  all  human  life,  after  theories  and  methods 
which  are  peculiarly  its  own.  It  claims  to 
1 


2  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

have  a  new  gospel  for  mankind,  and  has 
organized  societies  to  practice  and  to  preach 
its  precepts.  It  is  so  imbued  with  a  sense  of 
its  own  supreme  sufficiency,  as  the  only,  and 
complete  exponent  of  all  divine  truth,  that  it 
ignores  all  existing  churches  and  organizes 
another  sect — to  add  to  the  distraction  of  an 
already  disorganized  Christianity. 

Now,  if  this  movement  was  simply  a  new 
system  of  therapeutics,  it  would  demand  our 
calm  and  careful  consideration  on  account  of 
the  remarkable  cures  that  it  assuredly  does 
effect,  but  as  it  also  calls  itself  Christian  and 
claims  to  be  based  on  the  teaching  and  example 
of  Jesus,  it  behooves  us  to  examine  into  its 
credentials  and  to  heed  the  admonition  of  St. 
John,  who  said :  "  Beloved,  believe  not  every 
spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of 
God ;  because  many  false  prophets  have  gone 
out  into  the  world." 

I  desire,  in  these  pages,  to  give  you  the 
result  of  my  endeavor  to  "  try  the  spirit "  of 
Christian  Science.  And  I  wish  to  say  that  in 
my  examination  I  have  sought  to  be  as  fair 
and  impartial  as  I  could.  I  began  my  study 
of  it  in  a  sympathetic  spirit,  as  a  learner  seek- 
ing after  truth.  Believing  as  I  did,  that  no 
movement  could  take  hold  of  so  many  in- 
telligent minds  with  the  power  that  Christian 


A    NEW    RELIGION. 


Science  has,  unless  there  was  some  vital  truth 
at  the  basis  of  it,  I  endeavored  to  approach  the 
subject  with  an  open  mind,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain what  truth  there  was  in  it.  Then,  too, 
I  felt  that  if  Christian  Science  had  any  truth 
which  Jesus  taught  as  a  part  of  his  revelation 
to  men,  which  the  wants  of  a  new  age  had 
called  into  prominence,  that  it  was  a  part  of 
the  heritage  of  the  Christian  church,  which 
she  ought  to  embrace  and  utilize  for  the 
furtherance  of  Christ's  purposes  in  the  world. 
For  I  believe  that  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ 
ought  to  stand  for  all  that  is  Christian.  If 
there  is  any  new  revelation  of  the  meaning 
and  power  of  the  truth  which  He  taught,  or 
any  new  manifestation  of  it,  or  any  new  em- 
phasis of  any  old  and  neglected  truth  which 
can  rightly  claim  the  name  of  Christian,  then 
I  believe  that  the  Christian  church  ought  to 
be  large  enough  and  catholic  enough  and 
progressive  enough  to  accept  it  and  assimi- 
late it,  and  turn  its  ethical  forces  into  service 
for  the  blessing  and  salvation  of  mankind. 

When  I  heard  of  people  leaving  their  own 
churches  to  join  Christian  Scientists,  it  seemed 
to  me  that  it  surely  ought  not  to  be,  that  any 
earnest  follower  of  Jesus  should  feel  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
order  to  accept  any  truth  which  Jesus  taught. 


4  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  I  began  my  study  of 
this  movement. 

VARIOUS   SECTS. 

The  first  thing  that  confronts  one,  in  study- 
ing what  is  known  as  Christian  Science,  is  the 
fact,  that  the  spirit  of  discord  has  already  en- 
tered into  its  ranks,  and  divided  the  followers 
of  Mrs.  Eddy,  into  a  number  of  opposing  sects. 
Some  of  these  manifest  their  religious  zeal,  by 
calling  the  others  heretics,  and  disf  ellowship  all 
who  refuse  to  pronounce  their  own  peculiar  and 
distinctive  shibboleths.  As  a  sample  of  that 
"odium  theologicum,"  which  unfortunately 
seems  quite  natural  to  all  religions,  an  article 
in  a  recent  magazine,*  gives  an  illustration. 
After  speaking  of  the  necessity  for  careful 
discrimination,  the  writer  says  "The  name 
*  Christian  Science '  should  be  limited  solely 
to  the  doctrines  and  methods  and  text-books 
and  church  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  author  of  *  Science 
and  Health,'  with  which  half  fanatical,  per- 
sonality-worshipping movement  the  ISTew 
Thought  has  no  more  connection  than  exists 
between  the  Free  Eeligious  Association  and 
the  Pope  of  Rome."  Those  who  represent  the 
best  thought  and  spirit  of  the  movement,  are 
beginning  to  disown  and  repudiate  the  name 

*  Arena,  Feb.,  1899. 


jl  kew  religion.  5 

of  Christian  Scientists,  yet  I  shall  use  the  term 
in  a  general  and  comprehensive  sense,  as  that 
by  which  the  movement  is  most  familiarly 
known.  It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  the 
differences,  which  divide  its  adherents  into  op- 
posing schools  of  thought. 

ITS   ORIGIN. 

To  find  out  what  Christian  Science  is,  let 
us  glance  at  its  origin.  Mrs.  Mary  Baker 
Glover  Eddy,  who  claims  to  have  been  its 
founder,  and  who  practically  asserts  her  own 
infallibility,  and  is  so  regarded  by  some  of  the 
more  ignorant  of  her  followers,  begins  her 
book  entitled  "  Science  and  Health  "  with  this 
statement :  "  In  the  year  1866  I  discovered  the 
science  of  metaphysical  healing,  and  named  it 
Christian  Science."  Primarily,  then  it  was  a 
theory  or    system  of    mental    therapeutics.* 

*  Christian  Scientists  object  to  having  their  religion  referred 
to  as  prii7iarily  a  system  of  therapeutics.  But  that  this  is  true, 
in  point  of  time,  Mrs.  Eddy  herself  states  in  the  passage 
quoted.  That  it  is  also  true,  in  point  of  fact,  the  whole  under- 
lying ground  work  of  Science  and  Health  shows.  See 
especially  chapter  12.  Its  therapeutics  is  not  only  the  secret 
of  the  success  of  Christian  Science,  but  it  is  the  corner  stone  of 
the  system.  Christian  Science  lecturers,  while  they  deny  this, 
yet  they  continually  refer  to  its  cures,  and  speak  of  them  as 
«« demonstrations  "  of  its  truth.  Its  therapeutics  was  the  central 
point,  around  which  the  whole  system  was  constructed. 


6  CHKISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

Mrs.  Eddy  states  in  her  preface  that  *'  When 
God  called  her  to  proclaim  His  Gospel  to  this 
age,  there  came  also  the  charge  to  plant  and 
water  His  vineyard."  So,  in  1867,  she  opened 
a  school  of  Christian  Science  mind  healing,  to 
instruct  practitioners  in  her  methods.  Now 
the  founder  of  Christian  Science  makes  much 
of  the  principles  and  teaching  of  Jesus,  but  in 
carrying  on  this  school  for  the  prophets  of  the 
new  faith  she  seems  to  have  been  actuated  by 
something  more  mundane  and  mercenary  than 
his  example.  For  instance,  the  charge  for 
the  primary  course  in  this  school  was  300 
sordid  and  material  dollars ;  for  the  normal 
course,  $200 ;  for  the  course  in  obstetrics,  $100, 
and  for  the  theological  course,  $200  more — 
altogether  $800  in  hard,  material  bank  notes, 
exclusive  of  board,  and  strictly  in  advance. 
Now,  inasmuch  as  such  useless  things  as 
anatomy,  physiology  and  materia  medica  were 
ignored  in  this  school,  the  courses  only  oc- 
cupied a  few  weeks  and  practitioners  were 
turned  out  with  remarkable  rapidity.  Mrs. 
Eddy  states  that  during  seven  years  she  had 
some  4,000  students.  Mrs.  Eddy  was  also 
pastor  of  the  first  Christian  Science  church. 
In  1875  she  issued  the  first  edition  of  "  Science 
and  Health."  The  price  for  this  book  is  three 
dollars,  and,  inasmuch  as  Mrs.  Eddy  is  said  to 


A    NEW    EELIGION.  7 

be  her  own  publisher,  and  the  book  has  reached 
its  163d  edition,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
the  preface  closes  with  this  note :  "  The  author 
takes  no  patients,  and  declines  medical  consul- 
tation." 

SOUVENIR  SPOONS.* 

In  addition  to  this,  the  founder  of  Christian 
Science  has  recently  launched  forth  in  the 
Souvenir  Spoon  business.  The  following  is 
from  the  Christian  Science  Sentinel  of  Jan. 
26,  1899  : 

1^  "  On  each  of  these  most  beautiful  spoons  is 
a  motto  in  bas-relief  that  every  person  on 
earth  needs  to  hold  in  thought.  Mother 
requests  that  Christian  Scientists  shall  not 
ask  to  be  informed  what  this  motto  is,  but 
each  Scientist  shall  purchase  at  least  one 
spoon,  and  those  who  can  afford  it,  one  dozen 
spoons,  that  their  families  may  read  this 
motto  at  every  meal  and  their  guests  be  made 
partakers  of  its  simple  truth. 

"  Mary  Baker  Eddy.  ^ 

*  The  souvenir  spoons  which  "  Mother  "  Eddy  urges,  as  a 
means  of  grace,  at  three  dollars  each  for  plain  silver,  and  five 
dollars,  gold-plated,  contain  a  medallion  of  Mrs.  Eddy  on  the 
handle,  an  etching  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  home  at  Concord,  N.  H,,  in 
the  bowl,  and  on  the  back,  a  text  from  Mrs.  Eddy's  book,  "  Sci- 
ence  and  Health." 


8  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

IN'ow  the  ordinary  "  mortal  mind  "  is  quite 
justified  in  regarding  this  as  a  shrewd  bit  of 
business,  under  the  garb  of  piety,  and  it  does 
seem  as  if  the  dollars  in  it,  stick  out  very 
large  in  "  Mother  "  Eddy's  spirituality.  It  is 
on  a  par  with  the  doings  of  a  certain  Christian 
Science  doctor,  in  Chicago,  who  is  said  to  use 
his  sermons  as  a  part  of  his  advertisements, 
with  expressions  on  one  page,  such  as — 
"  Christ  has  come  to  his  people,"  "  He  hath 
clothed  his  Church  with  the  gifts  of  healing,'* 
"  He  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  poor " ;  and  on  a  following  page, 
"Terms  will  be  forwarded  on  application," 
"  Hot  and  cold  water  and  porcelain  baths  in 
nearly  all  rooms,"  "  All  the  comforts  of  a  first- 
class  hotel." 

The  commercial  side  to  the  early  history  of 
Christian  Science  is  referred  to,  not  only  to 
show  that  its  founder  had  what  most  people 
would  call  an  "  eye  to  business,"  in  the  method 
of  her  revelation  of  its  blessings  to  mankind, 
but  also  because  there  are  some  who  think  that 
the  same  factor  helps  to  explain  the  enthusiasm 
of  some  of  its  practitioners  to-day.  Yet  it 
would  be  unfair  to  intimate  that  a  mercenary 
spirit  was  prominent  as  a  motive,  with  the 
great  majority  of  its  followers.  Far  from  it, 
since  there  is  no  doubt  that  Christian  Scientists, 


A    NEW    RELIGION.  9 

as  a  rule,  are  as  purely  unselfish  and  self-sacri- 
ficing people,  as  are  found  in  any  of  our 
churches. 

THE  GOSPEL   OF   CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE. 

The  gospel  of  the  orthodox  Christian 
Scientists  is  contained  in  the  book  referred  to, 
of  some  600  pages,  entitled  "  SCIENCE  AND 
HEALTH."  If  the  author  is  correct,  this  the 
"  only  true  and  authoritative  exposition  of  the 
science  of  metaphysical  healing."  "  Those  who 
depart  from  this  method  forfeit  their  claims  to 
belong  to  its  school."     (Page  6.)  * 

The  author  implies  that  her  system  of 
mind  healing  was  a  divine  revelation,^  and 
says  that  while  other  methods  "may  have 
occasional  gleams  of  divinity,"  "yet  they  re- 
main intensely  human  in  their  origin  and 
tendency,  and  are  not  scientifically  Christian." 
Yet  the  human  in  the  author  comes  out  quite 
strong,  only  a  few  lines  below,  in  her  effort  to 
guard  the  rights  and  privileges  (and  per- 
quisites) of  her  discovery.     (Page  6.) 

SCIENCE   AND   HEALTH. 

The  book,  "  Science  and  Health,"  is  a  most 
remarkable  production.     In  its  entire  disregard 

*  Page  references  are  to  Science  and  Healthy  1 1 8th  edition. 
»  See  Note  i,  Appendix.     Mrs.  Eddy's  '«  Revelation." 


10  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

of  all  common  sense  it  leaves  Jules  Yerne  en- 
tirely in  the  rear.  Kow,  I  am  aware,  that 
those  who  accept  its  teachings  will  attribute 
any  adverse  criticism  to  prejudice  or  misunder- 
standing. Yet,  after  a  second  examination  of 
it  I  can  say  without  any  exaggeration  that 
from  a  literary  standpoint  it  is  simply  beneath 
criticism.  There  are  many  good  thoughts  in 
it,  and  many  practical  and  beautiful  suggestions 
in  it,  but  it  is  chiefly  made  up  of  the  most  as- 
tonishing propositions,  strung  together  in  the 
most  inconsequential  and  disjointed  way,  with- 
out any  logical  sequence  in  the  process  of  its 
thought,  but  iterated  and  reiterated  in  the 
most  dogmatic  manner,  as  if  boldness  of 
assumption  was  more  convincing  than  reason- 
able argument.  On  page  seven  the  author 
summarizes  the  fundamentals  of  Christian 
Science  in  the  four  following  propositions : 

"  1.     God  is  all  in  all. 

"  2.     God  is  good.     God  is  mind. 

"3.  God,  Spirit,  being  all,  nothing  is 
matter. 

"4.  Life,  God,  omnipotent  good,  deny 
death,  evil,  sin,  disease." 

Then  the  author  repeats  the  last  proposition 
backward,  and  remarks  that  "  the  metaphysics 
of  Christian  Science,  like  the  rules  of  mathe- 
matics  prove   the  rule   by  inversion."      She 


A   NEW    RELIGION.  11 

still  further  illustrates  this  by  the  following : 
<'  There  is  no  pain  in  Truth,  and  no  truth  in 
pain ;  no  nerve  in  Mind,  and  no  mind  in  nerve ; 
no  matter  in  Mind,  and  no  mind  in  matter ;  no 
matter  in  Life,  and  no  life  in  matter ;  no  matter 
in  Good,  and  no  good  in  matter."  These 
astonishing  propositions  are  stated  with  the 
utmost  seriousness,  and  with  the  dogmatism 
and  sententiousness  of  a  divine  oracle  giving 
some  ex  cathedra  decision.  But  how  they 
prove  anything,  or,  even  mean  anything,  that 
is  clear  and  unambiguous,  it  is  difficult  to  dis- 
cover. 

For  example,  if  the  first  proposition  is  in- 
terpreted to  mean,  that  "  God  is  all  in  all,"  so 
as  to  leave  no  place  for  the  personality  of  the 
individual,  then  it  denies  a  fact  of  human  con- 
sciousness, which  man  Tcnoios,  and  must  know 
before  he  can  know  anything  else. 

The  third  proposition  is  truly  "  fundamental " 
to  the  whole  theory  of  Christian  Science,  but 
it  is  opposed  not  only  to  Christianity  and  to 
Science,  but  also  to  reason  and  common  sense. 
It  is  a  dangerous  theory  because  false. 

Proposition  four  is  an  amazing  piece  of 
assumption.  Mrs.  Eddy  repeats  it  backward. 
It  reads  equally  well  either  way,  as  do  most 
other  parts  of  the  book,  if  taken  by  paragraphs. 
It  asserts,  that  if  God  is,  there  is  no  such  thing 


/ 


12  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

as  sin,  evil,  or  death ;  and  vice  versa,  if  there  is 
any  disease,  sin,  evil  or  death,  there  is  no  God. 
Is  this  true?  Is  it  a  fact,  that  disease,  sin, 
etc.,  are  so  incompatible  with  the  nature  and 
purposes  of  God,  that  to  admit  their  existence, 
is  to  deny  the  existence  of  God?  There  is 
neither  truth,  reason,  nor  logic  in  such  a  state- 
ment. Mrs.  Eddy  does  not  undertake  to  prove 
any  of  her  propositions,  though  she  reiterates 
them  in  the  most  positive  and  dogmatic  man- 
ner. The  Holy  Scriptures  ^  have  considerable 
to  say  about  sin,  evil  and  death,  but  Mrs. 
Eddy  has  a  very  unique  way  of  warping  them 
all  to  suit  her  theories,  by  a  fanciful  and 
picturesque  method  of  interpretation,  which 
scorns  the  plain  meaning  of  words,  and  makes 
anything  mean  what  she  would  like  to  have  it 
mean.  When  she  cannot  do  this,  she  does  not 
hesitate  to  intimate  that  the  Scriptures  lie. 
(Page  517.) 

INVEESIONS. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  "  inversions,"  above  referred  to, 
afford  an  illustration  of  her  unique  logic.  She 
says  "there  is  no  pain  in  Truth,  and  no  truth  in 
pain."  This  is  specious,  but  deceptive,  because 
the  terms  of  the  inversion  are  equivocal. 
What  Mrs.    Eddy  means   to   affirm,  is,  that 

•See  Note  2,  Appendix.    "  Christian  Science  and  the  Bible." 


A    NEW    EELIGION.  13 

there  is  no  reality  in  pain,  because  there  is  no 
pain  in  truth.  But  give  "truth"  the  same 
meaning,  in  both  terms,  and  if  there  is  any 
truth  in  the  common  experiences  of  human 
life,  then  the  falsity  of  the  statement  becomes 
apparent.  The  crucial  words  are  not  univocal 
in  both  terms  of  any  of  the  inversions,  they  are 
therefore  illogical  and  misleading. 

A   EEDISCOVERY? 

Christian  Science  claims  to  be  a  rediscovery 
of  the  power  employed  by  Christ  in  healing 
the  sick,  and  of  the  principles  on  which  He 
wrought  his  divine  works.  Mrs.  Eddy  says 
these  principles  must  be  accepted  and  believed 
in  before  we  can  have  a  right  understanding 
of  what  true  science  or  true  Christianity  is. 
She  then  goes  on  to  explain  the  peculiar 
^iiilosophical  theory  on  which  her  system  is 
iDased.  It  will  be  essential  that  we  understand 
something  of  this  before  we  can  at  all  compre- 
hend what  Christian  Science  claims  to  be. 

BRIEF   SUMMARY. 

But  before  we  enter  upon  that  let  me 
state  just  here  that  in  my  study  of  the  subject 
I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  what  is 
new  in  Christian  Science  is  not  true,  and  what 
is  true  is  not  new.     The  only  new  thing  about 


1^  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

it  is  the  false  metaphysical  theory  on  which  it 
is  based,  which  we  shall  see  is  opposed  both  to 
reason,  and  to  common  sense,  and  is  dangerous 
hecause  false.  The  power  of  healing  is  not 
new  and  is  partly  true.  It  is  a  power  which 
was  undoubtedly  exercised  in  the  primitive 
church,  and  there  has  been  no  age  since  in 
which  occasional  instances  of  it  cannot  be 
found.  Before  I  conclude  I  shall  endeavor  to 
show  that  the  root  principle  of  this  healing 
power  is  the  same,  whether  attributed  to  the 
bones  of  saints  and  martyrs,  to  the  virtue  of 
sacred  relics,  the  odylic  force,  to  magnetism  or 
spiritualism,  faith  cure,  hypnotism  or  to  Chris- 
tian Science.  Of  course,  Christian  Science 
repudiates  this  thought,  but  it  is  a  fact,  never- 
theless, -and  can  be  substantiated. 

THE   KEYSTONE    OF   THE   SYSTEM. 

But  let  us  glance  briefly  at  the  philosophy 
of  the  movement  we  are  considering.  Mrs. 
Eddy  says  (page  8);  "Christian  Science  ex- 
plains all  cause  and  effect  as  mental,  not 
physical.  It  lifts  the  veil  of  mystery  from 
soul  and  body.  It  shows  the  Scientific  re- 
lation of  man  to  God,  disentangles  the  inter- 
laced ambiguities  of  Being  and  sets  free  the 
imprisoned  thought ;  so  that  we  may  know,  in 
Divine  Science,  that  the  universe,  including 


A   NEW    RELIGION.  15 

man  and  his  divine  Principle,  is  harmonious 
and  eternal.  Science  shows  that  what  is 
termed  matter  is  but  the  subjective  state  of 
what  is  here  termed  mortal  mind.''''  This  ex- 
pression, "mortal  mind,"  is  used  to  signify 
everything  visible  and  invisible,  material  or 
immaterial,  save  only  mind,  or  God,  the  all  in 
all.  There  is  nothing  real  but  mind,  which  is 
immortal,  omnipotent  and  omnipresent.  All 
else  is  not.  All  else  is  only  deception  and 
illusion,  unreal,  non-existent.  All  else  only 
seems.  For  want  of  a  better  ivord,  Mrs.  Eddy 
uses  what  she  confesses  to  be  the  inadequate 
term—"  mortal  mind  "—to  express  it. 

On  page  173  she  says :  "  The  realm  of  the 
real  is  spiritual.  The  opposite  of  spirit  is 
matter,  and  the  opposite  of  the  real  is  the 
unreal,  or  material.  Matter  is  an  error  of 
statement."  "  :N"othing  we  can  say  or  believe 
regarding  matter  is  true,  except  that  matter  is 
unreal  and  is  therefore  belief."  "  Spirit  is  the 
only  substance  and  consciousness  recognized 
by  Science.  The  senses  oppose  this ;  but  there 
are  no  material  senses,  for  matter  has  no  sen- 
sation." "  All  that  we  term  sin,  sickness  and 
death  is  comprised  in  a  belief  in  matter." 
"Free  the  mind,  therefore,  of  a  belief  in 
matter,  and  there  will  be  no  such  thing  as 
sin,  sickness  or  death."     Such  things  are  only 


16  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

dreams — delusions,  creations  of  the  mortal 
mind.  And  yet  Christian  Science  claims  to  be 
a  method  of  healing  the  very  material  bodies 
whose  existence  it  denies.  As  an  instance  of 
its  utter  illogicalness,  turn  to  page  246  of 
"  Science  and  Health,"  where  it  states  that  it 
is  "  mortal  mind  that  convulses  matter."  But 
matter  is  defined  as  "  merely  a  subjective  state 
of  the  mortal  mind,"  and  "  mortal  mind  "  is  a 
non-reality,  a  nonentity.  Yet,  how  can  one 
nonentity  or  non-existence  convulse  another 
nonentity?  Drugs  and  medicines  are  non- 
entities, and  so  should  not  be  used  to  cure 
physical  bodies,  which  are  also  nonentities. 
Food  is  unreal  and  has  no  life-sustaining 
properties ;  it  is  only  a  "  belief  of  the  mortal 
mind,"  which  has  no  existence,  and  Mrs.  Eddy 
thinks  that  the  time  may  come  when  material 
food  will  be  unnecessary.  If  Christian  Scien- 
tists would  live  without  food  they  could  prove 
the  truth  of  their  philosophy.  The  fact  is, 
that  Christian  Science  seems  to  have  a  unique 
way  of  using  language  which  regards  some- 
thingness  and  nothingness  as  interchangeable 
terms,  either  of  which  it  assumes  by  turns,  and 
both  of  which  it  occasionally  asserts  at  the 
same  time. 

And  yet  it  calls  itself  a  science.    And  there 
are  sane  and  intelligent  people  whose  minds 


A    NEW    KELIGIOK.  17 

are  SO  confused  by  the  kaleidoscopic  gyrations 
of  its  cabalistic  reasoning,  that  they  become 
hypnotized,  and,  being  unable  to  distinguish 
the  true  from  the  false  in  its  philosophy,  they 
settle  down  into  a  sort  of  mental  paralysis  and 
accept  it  all. 

When  Mrs.  Eddy  asserts  the  nothingness  of 
matter  she  runs  her  idealism  into  the  bald  and 
barren   denial  of  the   common  sense  of  the 
world.     There  is  nothing  like  it  in  even  such 
idealists  as  Fichte  and  Berkeley.     With  them 
matter  was  the  expression  of  the  idea  or  in- 
telligence that  controlled  it.     It  was  not  real, 
in  the  sense  of  being  self-existent,  or  in  the 
permanency  of  its  forms,  but  it  was  actual.    So, 
when  Mrs.  Eddy  asserts  the  nothingness  ot 
piatter  she  teaches  a  new  philosophy.     Start-^ 
ing  with  the  dictum  that  disease  and  sickness 
inhere  in  matter  or  in  the  mental  conception 
of  it,  it  is  an  easy  thing  by  destroying  one  to 
destroy  the  other  also.     But  universal  experi- 
i^nce  of  mankind  is  against  this  theory,  and 
even  Christian  Scientists  are  compelled  to  con- 
duct themselves,  especially  in  food  and  drink 
and  clothing,  as  if  matter  was  something. 

CLAIMS    PROVE  NOTHII^a. 

M:rs.  Eddy  adduces  no  proof  of  her  prop- 
ositions, but  simply  begs  the  whole  question, 


18  CHKISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

by  the  most  astounding  assumptions.  Pro- 
fessor Bates  says ;  "  Matter  is  the  middle  term 
between  God,  and  the  soul  is  the  medium  of 
the  divine  revelation.  The  relation  of  the 
soul  to  the  body  is  a  figure  of  the  relation  of 
God  to  the  world.  He  is  incarnate  in  matter, 
as  the  soul  is  incarnate  in  the  body.  Matter  is 
not  evil.  The  soul  knows  and  communes  with 
God,  through  matter." 

AK   EFFOKT   AT   SELF-DECEPTION. 

The  philosophy  of  Christian  Science  is  a 
denial  of  every  sound  principle  of  reasoning 
that  the  world  has  known.  The  Christian 
Scientist  rejects  all  science,  except  his  own. 
He  constructs  a  world  after  arbitrary  principles 
of  his  own,  which  his  own  experience  tells  him 
is  false.  He  tries  to  make  himself  believe  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter,  and  yet  he 
eats  and  drinks  and  lives  like  other  people, 
with  this  self-deception  at  his  heart.  Now, 
whatever  may  be  the  immediate  effects  of  this 
cultivation  of  mental  delusions,  it  must  tend  in 
the  long  run  to  a  life  of  unreality,  which  will 
issue  in  a  species  of  mental  insanity. 

A   BAD   FORM   OF  BIGOTRY. 

Christian  Science  also  is  a  bad  form  of  big- 
otry.    It  is  narrowing  and  dwarfing  in  every 


A    NEW    RELIGION.  19 

wa}^  With  Science  and  Health  as  its  Bible, 
and  the  Bible  as  its  supplement,  it  scorns  all 
other  knowledge.  In  fact,  all  other  knowl- 
edge, all  other  education  about  all  material 
things,  is  a  sham  and  delusion  of  the  mortal 
mind.  Even  now  some  Christian  Scientists  are 
taking  their  children  out  of  the  public  schools 
and  starting  schools  of  their  OAvn,  where  chil- 
dren can  be  as  free  as  possible  from  the  ad- 
verse claims  of  mortal  mind  upon  them. 

In  Racine,  Wisconsin,  it  is  reported,  that  the 
Christian  Scientists  recently  petitioned  the 
school  board  to  abolish  the  study  of  physiology 
in  the  public  schools,  on  the  ground  that  it 
teaches  what  is  not  true,  concerning  the  human 
body,  and  thus  fosters  erroneous  and  danger- 
ous views  of  human  life. 

THE   OLD    PATH,    SAFER. 

In  opposition  to  the  narrowness  of  Christian 
Science  stands  the  old  Christianity  of  Christ 
and  the  Gospels,  a  Christianity  of  sympathy 
and  of  common  sense ;  a  religion  of  faith  and 
love,  which  looks  to  God  as  a  Father,  who 
placed  man  in  a  world  which  He  had  made, 
and  in  which  man  was  to  work  out  his  sal- 
vation, and  to  grow  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  God,  as  he  grew  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  all  his  Father's  works. 


CHAPTEE  IL 

THE   NAME   A   MISNOMER. 

In  exposing  the  errors  and  absurdities  of 
Christian  Science,  we  must  not  be  unfair,  nor 
deny  that  there  is  anything  good  about  it. 
"While  we  may  and  ought  to  expose  its  evils, 
yet  we  need  not  be  blind  to  that  which  has 
won  for  it  the  devotion  of  many  earnest  peo- 
ple. And  again,  while  we  condemn  its  phi- 
losophy and  its  theology  as  false  and  danger- 
ous, yet  we  may  admit  that  its  protest  against 
extreme  materialism  and  intellectual  pride,  is 
at  least  most  timely.  In  its  practical  teaching, 
the  emphasis  Avhich  it  places  upon  the  fact  that 
close  dependence  on  God  will  lift  human  life 
above  all  care,  and  worry,  and  anxiety,  is  a 
truth  which  the  Christian  religion  has  always 
taught,  but  which  very  few  Christians  have 
tried  to  realize  as  they  ought.  Another  lesson 
which  we  might  learn  from  it,  is  the  great 
stress  placed  upon  another  old  truth,  that  the 
secret  of  godliness  is  the  secret  of  health. 

While  we  may  freely  admit  all  that  is  good 
and  true  about  Christian  Science,  yet  on  the 
other  hand  we  ought  not  to  be  blind  to  its 

20 


THE  NAME  A   MISNOMER.  21 

evils  and  untruths.  Our  purpose  is  to  point 
out  some  of  these  latter,  in  order  to  show 
Christian  people  that  they  need  not  leave  their 
own  churches  in  order  to  embrace  all  that  is 
true  in  Christian  Science,  nor  need  they  accept 
its  falsehoods  and  delusions  in  order  to  share 
in  all  the  helpfulness  and  partake  of  all  the  ' 
powers  which  Christ  came  to  reveal. 

CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE,    NEITHER   CHRISTIAN 
NOR  SCIENTIFIC. 

Saint  Paul  wrote  some  very  good  advice  to 
Timothy,  which  is  quite  up  to  date,  and  perti- 
nent to  the  question  before  us.  He  said: 
1  Timothy  vi.  20:  "O,  Timothy,  keep  that 
which  is  committed  to  thy  trust,  avoiding  pro- 
fane and  vain  babblings  and  oppositions  of 
science,  falsely  so-called,  which  some  profess- 
ing have  erred  concerning  the  faith." 

A  very  little  study  of  history  will  reveal 
that  it  was  something  similar  to  Christian 
Science,  which  the  apostle  had  in  mind,  when 
he  wrote  these  words,  and  a  very  little  study 
of  Christian  Science  will  reveal  that  both  as 
to  its  Christianity,  and  its  science,  it  is  "  falsely 
so-called." 

The  term  Christian  has  a  clear  and  distinct 
meaning.  A  Christian  is  one  who  believes  in 
Jesus  Christ,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospels,  ac- 


22  CHKISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

cepts  his  message  and  tries  to  obey  his  com- 
mands.    Kow,  it  is  true  that  those  who  call 
themselves  Christian  Scientists,  do  speak  of 
Jesus  Christ  with  great  reverence,  but  the 
Christ  of  Christian  Science  is  not  the  Christ  of 
the  Gospels,  but  an  entirely  new  invention 
evolved  from  the  fertile  brain  of  Mrs.  Eddy. 
I  say  new,  and  yet  not  new,  either,  save  in  one 
particular,  since  her  Jesus  Christ  is  a  poorly 
digested  mixture  and  recrudescence  of  a  num- 
ber of  old  heresies,  which  she  has  revamped 
and  set  forth  as  a  new  revelation.    It  is  only 
by  an  entire  perversion  and  disregard  of  the 
plain  meaning  of  words  and  the  whole  teach- 
ing of  the  Christian  centuries  that  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Mrs.  Eddy  can  be  shown  to  have  any 
identity  with  the  Christianity  of  Christ  and 
his    apostles.      Her   ''Science    and    Health," 
page  478,   speaks  of  Jesus  as   "the  highest 
human   concept   of  a  perfect  man,"  and  yet 
■page   229   as  only  a  "human  corporeal  con- 
cept."    Page  358  speaks  of  Him  as  knowing 
''  the  mortal  error  which  constitutes  the  ma- 
terial body,"  but  intimates  that  He  was  less 
free  from  error  and  less  true  in  this  respect 
than  Mrs.  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  in  that  He  "  had 
not  conquered  all  the  beliefs  of  the  flesh,  or 
his  sense  of  material  life." 

We  shall  refer  to  the  teachings  of  Christian 


THE   NAME  A   MISNOMER.  23 

Science  about  Jesus  Christ  again  when  we  come 
to  speak  of  its  theology.  But  for  a  religion  to 
call  itself  "  Christian,"  which  has  no  clear  con- 
ception of  a  personal  God,  which  denies  the 
incarnation,  which  knows  no  sin  and  recog- 
nizes no  need  of  a  Saviour — for  such  a  system 
to  call  itself  Christian  is  either  a  confession  of 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  those  who  do  it,  or 
an  appeal  to  the  ignorance  of  others. 

The  same  argument  applies  to  the  assump- 
tion of  the  word  "science,"  as  a  part  of  its 
name.^    I  think  it  was  the  Duke  of  Argyle 
who  defined  science  as  a  "  systematic  knowl- 
edge of  phenomena  or  facts  in  their  relation 
to  other  facts,  and  to  ourselves."    A  scientist, 
therefore,  is  one  who  has  attained  such  scien- 
tific knowledge  in  some  branch  of  scientific 
research.     Putting  the  two  words  together, 
and  a  Christian  Scientist  is  a  person  who,  in 
addition  to  his  scientific  knowledge,  is  also  an 
open  and  avowed  Christian.     But  can  you  tell 
me  of  any  scientist,  whether  Christian  or  un- 
believer, who  has  accepted  the  theories  and 
opinions  of  Mrs.  Eddy  ?    I  have  yet  to  hear 
of  even  one  single  one  of  any  reputable  stand- 
ing who  has  done  so.     Mrs.  Eddy  says  in  the 
preface  to  her  book  that  "  no  intellectual  pro- 
ficiency is  required  in  the  learner  "  of  her  sci- 

3  See  Note  3,  Appendix.     Mrs,  Eddy's  ««  Science." 


24  CHBISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

ence.     (I  make  no  comments.)    The  name  is 
an  entire  misnomer. 

THE  NAME,   A   BID   FOR  POPULARITY. 

Mr.  P.  T.  Barnum  used  to  say  that  "  people 
like  to  be  humbugged."     The  term  "science  " 
sounds  well  and  is  taking  in  the  ears  of  this 
generation,  which  is  eager  to  follow  any  one 
who  professes  to  have  a  knowledge  beyond 
the  range  of  common  men,  and  helps  to  fool 
some,  who  are  not  piously  inclined,  and  with 
"  Christian  "  prefixed,  the  name  helps  to  fool 
others,  who  are  piously  inclined,  but  who  want 
to  find  some  new  and  easier,  or  more  exciting 
method  of  serving  God.     It  may  seem  ungen- 
erous, yet  I  can  but  think  that  the  name  was 
a  shrewd  bid  for  popularity,  and  is  falsely  ap- 
plied to  "  Christian  Science,"  because  it  denies 
nearly  all  the  accepted  tenets  of  Christianity, 
as  taught  in  the  Catholic  faith,  and  opposes 
nearly  all  the  precepts  on  which  the  science 
of  the  world  is  based. 

ILLOGICAL   CONCLUSIONS. 

There  are  many  intelligent  people,  who 
seem  to  lack  logical  perception,  just  as  some 
are  wanting  in  color  perception,  and  are  what 
we  call  color  blind.  This  fact  forms  one  of 
the  secrets   of  the   success   of  the   Christian 


THE  NAME  A   MISNOMER.  25 

Science  movement.  For  example,  it  is  often 
claimed  that  the  cures  which  Christian  Science 
undoubtedly  effects  are  '^  demonstrations  "  *  of 
its  truth,  since,  as  its  adherents  are  fond  of 
quoting,  "  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 
But  sacred  shrines'*  and  the  bones  of  saints, 
have  wrought  cures,  as  remarkable  as  any  that 
Christian  Science  can  boast  of.  Does  this 
prove  that  shrines  and  saints'  bones  contain 
the  divine  principle  ?  Faith  cure,  magnetism, 
hypnotism,  and  a  dozen  other  systems,  also 
heal  cases,  after  their  methods,  equally  won- 
derful, but  does  their  "  demonstration  "  of  the 
power  to  heal,  prove  the  truth  of  any  or  all  of 
their  conflicting  theories  ? 

The  only  demonstration  there  is — is  that 
they  all  can  heal  certain  classes  of  disease,  and 
the  fact  is,  whatever  their  theory  about  it  may 
be,  that  the  principle  by  which  the  cure  is 
effected,  is  the  same  in  them  all,  whether  they 
know  or  believe  it  or  whether  they  do  not. 
Almost  any  person,  after  a  little  instruction 
and  practice,  can  heal  as  well  as  any  Christian 
Scientist. 

But  Christian  Scientists,  in  their  desire  to 
make  it  appear  that  they  have  a  monopoly 
of  the  method  or  principle  of  healing  which 

*  Preface  to  Science  and  Health,  page  viii. 

*  See  Note  4,  Appendix.     Shrine  of  Bishop  Neuman. 


26  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

Jesus  used,  frantically  denounce  all  other 
methods.  Yet  Jesus  Himself  said  that  it  was 
no  proof  of  anything  distinctively  Christian 
about  either  the  s^^stem  or  the  method  of  those 
who  assumed  the  title,  that  they  claimed  to 
work  cures  in  his  name.  He  declared,  "  many 
will  say  unto  Me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have 
we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy 
name  have  cast  out  devils  ?  and  in  thy  name 
done  many  wonderful  works  ?  and  then  will  I 
profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you :  depart 
from  Me,  ye  that  work  iniquity  "  {i.  e.,  without 
law).    Matt.  vii.  22. 

CABALISTIC. 

The  same  sort  of  illogicalness  applies  to  the 
cures  and  conversions  wrought  by  reading 
Mrs.  Eddy's  book.  Its  peculiar  effect  upon  the 
minds  of  those  who  are  led  to  take  it  up  from 
sickness  or  intellectual  unrest,  is  often  thought 
to  be  a  "  demonstration"  of  its  truth.  But  the 
fact  is  that  these  persons  are  confused  by  the 
circuitous  convolutions  of  its  inconsequential 
reasoning,  its  constant  suppression  of  half 
truths,  and  its  astounding  assumptions,  until 
they  become  bewildered  and  hypnotized,  and 
are  ready  to  accept  anything  that  Mrs.  Eddy 
says,  because  the  book  so  boldly  and  confi- 
dently affirms  that  Mrs.  Eddy  knows. 


THE  NAME  A    MISNOMER.  27 

The  word  hypnotized  is  used  purposely, 
since  this  is  the  essential  principle  which 
underlies  the  whole  scheme.  Science  and 
Health  is  largely  made  up  of  cabalistic  utter- 
ances, which  on  close  examination  mean  noth- 
ing clear  and  definite,  but  which  are  claimed 
to  be  momentously  full  of  some  mysterious 
and  occult  significance,  which  to  those  who 
can  discover  it,  will  be  the  revelation  of 
divine  truth — or  divine  science.  This  is  prac- 
tically a  cabalistic  method  of  hypnotizing. 
Christian  Science  healers,  who  seek  to  heighten 
the  mystery  by  continued  silence,  and  the 
repetition  of  similar  mystic  utterances,  work 
on  the  same  principle. 


CHAPTEK  III. 

THE    PHILOSOPHY     OF     CHRISTIAN     SCIENCE, 
DANGEROUS   AND   IMMORAL. 

In  order  to  understand  Christian  Science,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  examine  it  under  three 
heads,  and  see  what  it  is,  as  to  its  philosophy, 
its  theology,  and  its  therapeutics.  The  first 
is  the  most  fundamental,  since  it  is  the  key  to 
its  peculiar  theology,  and  explains  the  theory 
upon  which  its  therapeutics  was  constructed. 
We  have  already  referred  to  the  uniqueness  of 
its  philosophy,  in  the  absolute  denial  of  mat- 
ter. 

ISTow  the  more  thoroughly  this  is  understood, 
not  only  the  more  absurd,  but  the  more  dan- 
gerous will  it  be  seen  to  be,  in  its  influences 
both  on  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  life. 

Let  us  glance  at  these  two  points.  In  the 
first  place,  Christian  Science  is  an  intellectual 
sin. 

AN   INTELLECTUAL    SIN,    AND    LOGICAL    COM- 
EDY. 

It  is  a  deliberate  prostitution  and  debase- 
ment of  the  human  reason  by  the  cultivation 
28 


THE  PHILOSOPHY   DANGEROUS.  29 

of  a  delusion.  Its  adherents  make  believe  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  matter,  that  every 
material  thing  is  only  an  "  erroneous  belief  of 
the  mortal  mind."  Mortal  mind  is  a  nothing- 
ness, and  so  matter  is  an  erroneous  belief  of 
one  nothingness  in  another  nothingness.  ISTow, 
this  is  a  dangerous  mental  heresy,  and  tends 
to  intellectual  bankruptcy.  Yet  their  whole 
system  is  founded  on  it.  It  is  the  very  ground- 
work of  science  and  health.  Mrs.  Eddy's 
scheme  stands  or  falls  with  it. 

But  what  is  the  basis  on  which  Christian 
Scientists  profess  to  believe  in  the  absolute 
non-existence  of  matter  ?  Their  whole  expe- 
rience is  against  their  theory  and  the  common 
sense  of  the  world  denies  it,  and  the  only  rea- 
son which  can  be  adduced  is  that  "Mother 
Eddy  says  so."  Observe  that  I  am  not  ob- 
jecting to  the  fact  that  intelligence  is  the 
reality  below  all  phenomena,  that  mind  has 
.power  over  matter,  but  to  the  absolute  denial 
of  any  actuality  to  matter.  Take  a  practical 
point.  Mrs.  Eddy  says  ("  Science  and  Health," 
page  387),  "Admit  the  common  hypothesis 
that  food  is  what  sustains  life,  and  there  fol- 
lows the  necessity  for  another  admission  in  the 
opposite  direction,  namely,  that  food  has  power 
to  destroy  life,  through  its  deficiency  or  ex- 
cess in  quality  or  quantity."    "  If  mortals  think 


30  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

that  food  disturbs  the  harmonious  functions  of 
mind  and  body,  either  the  food  or  this  thought 
must  be  dispensed  with.  If  this  decision  be 
not  destroyed,  it  may  some  day  say  that  they 
are  dying  from  want  of  food." 

Yet  Christian  Scientists  feed  their  non-exist- 
ent bodies,  which  are  only  ''illusions"  and 
"  false  claims  of  the  mortal  mind  "  with  other 
"  illusions  "  and  "  false  claims  of  the  mortal 
mind,"  which  also  have  no  existence — called 
food — just  the  same  as  other  people  do,  all  the 
time  that  they  profess  to  believe  that  they  have 
no  bodies  and  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  food, 
save  as  "  erroneous  beliefs  of  the  mortal  mind." 
So,  to  express  it  very  mildly,  I  say  this  is  an 
intellectual  sin,  a  mental  heresy,  a  debasement 
of  the  human  reason,  which  is  one  of  God's 
greatest  gifts  to  man. 

Then  see  the  comedy  of  this  logic  in  its  ef- 
fect on  civilization.  If  Mrs.  Eddy  says  true  in 
her  denial  of  matter,  then  there  is  no  use  in' 
schools  to  teach  children  to  read,  because  all 
books,  even  "Science  and  Health,"  with  its 
key  to  the  Bible,  are  only  "  delusions."  There 
is  no  use  in  studying  such  "  erroneous  beliefs  " 
as  mathematics  and  botany  and  chemistr}^  nor 
anything  else.  Better  close  up  all  our  schools 
and  colleges  and  institutions  of  learning,  and 
shut  up  all  sho}>5  and  stores  and  cease  all 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   DANGEROUS.  31 

physical  labor — to  provide  food  and  everything 
else — so  that  mankind  may  just  give  itself  up 
to  meditation  on  divine  science — as  revealed 
by  Mrs.  Eddy — where  mind  can  feed  on  mind 
and  enjoy  the  supreme  felicity  of  its  own  ever- 
lasting oneness  and  allness.  This,  it  seems  to 
me,  is  the  plain  logical  issue  to  which  the 
philosophy  of  Christian  Science  would  lead  us. 

A  FORMULA   FOR   IMMORALITY. 

Now,  it  may  appear  invidious  and  unchari- 
table and  even  malicious  to  assert  that  the 
philosophical  theory  on  which  Christian  Sci- 
ence rests,  has  a  direct  tendency  to  foster  and 
encourage  immorality  and  crime.  While  bear- 
ing witness  to  the  fact  that  Christian  Scien- 
tists, as  far  as  I  know  them,  do  try  to  live 
pure,  upright  and  beautiful  lives,  lives  that  just 
now  manifest  more  of  that  sense  of  closeness 
to  God  than  the  lives  of  ordinary  Christians 
do,  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  I  assert  that  its  phi- 
losophy is  immoral,  and  will  tend  in  the  long 
run  to  encourage  vice  and  crime.^  Mrs.  Eddy 
says  "  An  error  in  the  premises  must  appear  in 
the  conclusion,"  and,  that  "  incorrect  reasoning 
leads  to  practical  error."  In  this  she  is  quite 
correct.  On  page  444  she  tries  to  guard 
against  the  "  practical  error,"  to  which  her  own 
6  See  Note  5,  Appendix.    (A  system  of  deception.) 


32  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

reasoning  leads,  by  saying,  "  A  sinner  is  not 
reformed  merely  by  assuring  him  that  he  can- 
not be  a  sinner,  because  there  is  no  sin.  To 
put  down  the  claim  of  sin  you  must  detect  it, 
remove  the  mask,  point  out  the  illusion,  and 
thus  get  the  victory  over  sin  and  prove  its  un- 
reality." ^ow,  not  to  dwell  upon  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Eddy  contradicts  herself  in  her  use 
of  the  word  sin,  the  point  I  desire  to  empha- 
size is  that,  if  "  the  soul  cannot  sin,"  if  sin  is 
only  an  error  of  the  mortal  mind,  then  the 
practical  outcome  of  this  theory  will  surely  be 
that  man,  being  spiritual,  his  nature  cannot 
be  corrupted  by  anything  his  mortal  mind  can 
do,  by  any  immoralities  he  may  indulge  in. 
Christian  Scientists  may  deny  this — I  am 
quite  sure  they  would  most  deeply  deplore  it 
— but  Mr.  Max  Mtiller  said  that  "  history  is  a 
truer,  though,  perhaps,  a  sterner,  teacher  than 
any  theory." 

AN   APPEAL   TO   HISTORY. 

Christian  Science  is  a  new  religion,  and  is 
seeking  just  now,  as  new  religions  always  do, 
to  justify  itself  before  the  world  by  the  high 
living  of  its  members.  So  I  appeal  to  history 
to  show  how  a  precisely  similar  theory  has  led 
to  error  in  Gnosticism.  Dr.  Waterman  in  his 
recent  history  of  the  apostolic  age,  says  "  the 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   DANGEROUS.  33 

Gnostics  held  that  man  was  dragged  down  by 
the  imprisonment  of  his  spirit  in  his  body.  De- 
liver him  from  that  bondage  and  he  would 
soon  and  easily  be  perfected."  "The  two 
notions"  (bear  in  mind  that  Dr.  AV^aterman  is 
speaking  of  Gnosticism,  not  of  Christian  Sci-. 
ence),  "  the  two  notions  that  knowledge  is  sal-' 
vation,  and  that  matter  is  an  evil  which  must 
be  shaken  off  as  a  condition  of  passing  into  a 
higher  state  of  being,  led  some  high-minded 
men  to  devote  themselves  nobly  to  plain  living 
and  high  thinking.  Some  of  the  Gnostic 
founders  were  certainly  men  of  devotion  and 
self-denial.  But  frequently  the  followers  of 
such  leaders  ran,  after  a  generation  or  so,  into 
depths  of  licentious  immorality.  They  said 
"  the  body  was  an  evil  thing,  anyhow,  why  try 
to  keep  it  from  doing  evil  things  ?  "  The  only 
course  for  a  true  Gnostic  was  to  let  his  body 
do  as  it  would,  and  keep  his  soul  proudly 
apart,  well  aware  that  it  was  a  separate  or- 
ganism, with  a  distinct  character  of  its  own 
now,  and  a  distinct  destiny  of  its  own  here- 
after." Dr.  Waterman  speaks  of  this  as  "  a 
doctrine  of  practical  corruption."  So,  after 
the  novelty  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  theory  has  worn 
off,  I  can  readily  see  how  her  formula,  that  the 
body  is  nothing,  and  cannot  corrupt  the  soul, 
will  be  used  as  a  cloak  to  cover  shameless  im- 


34  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

morality  and  extreme  self-indulgence.  Mrs. 
Eddy's  "  incorrect  reasoning  "  is  sure  to  lead 
"  to  practical  error." 

ITS   THEOLOar. 

As  to  the  theology  of  Christian  Science  in 
general,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak,  since  its  lan- 
guage is  so  vague  and  unscientific  and  its  rea- 
soning so  fragmentary  and  disjointed  that  it  is 
difiicult  to  tell  just  what  is  taught.  Then,  too, 
the  Scriptures  are  appealed  to  and  interpreted 
in  such  an  eccentric  way,  and  their  plain  and 
manifest  meaning  is  warped  and  perverted  to 
suit  their  peculiar  theories,  so  that  one  ban 
scarcely  recognize  them.^  But  the  Christian 
Science  idea  of  God  is  unmistakably  panthe- 
istic. The  writings  of  their  doctors  and 
teachers  are  rank  with  pantheism.  In  fair- 
ness, however,  I  will  say  that  I  do  not  think 
they  intend  to  teach  this.  What  they  aim 
at,  is  the  doctrine  of  Divine  Immanence,  but 
in  Mrs.  Eddy's  absolute  denial  of  matter, 
and  in  her  eagerness  to  avoid  materialistic 
pantheism,  she  runs  headlong  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  lands  flat  in  spiritual  pantheism, 
which  is  no  better.  I  am  well  aware  that  they 
all  vehemently  deny  this,  but  what  does  this 
denial  amount  to  when  you  can  confront  them 

2  See  Note  2,  Appendix.     '•  Christian  Science  and  the  Bible." 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   DANGEROUS.  36 

with  the  deadly  witness  of  their  own  testi- 
mony. For  example,  "  Science  and  Health," 
page  226,  says,  "  God  is  Spirit,  and  Spirit  is  di- 
vine Principle."  "Nothing  possesses  reality 
or  existence  except  Mind,  God,  who  is  all  in 
all."  "Everything  in  God's  universe.  His  is 
idea."  Page  225,  "  God  is  supreme  Being,  the 
only  Life,  Substance  and  Soul,  the  only  Intel- 
ligence of  the  universe,  including  man." 

At  times  Mrs.  Eddy  speaks  of  God  in  terms 
of  personality,  but  the  prevailing  trend  of 
Science  and  Health  sets  forth  God  in  imper- 
sonal and  abstract  terms,  which  admit  of  no 
personality,  of  which  "  principle "  seems  to 
predominate.  I  have  not  time  to  multiply 
quotations,  but  I  submit  that  the  Avhole  trend 
of  "  Science  and  Health,"  is  pantheistic.  The 
God  of  Christian  Science  is  more  like  the 
Brahma  of  Hindu  mythology,  than  the  God 
whom  Christ  revealed  and  taught  us  to  wor- 
ship. Their  favorite  expression  for  God  is 
"  Principle."  He  is  not  a  person,  a  father  who 
hears  and  answers  prayer,  for  we  are  told  that 
"  prayer  to  a  personal  God  is  a  hindrance." 

As  to  its  teaching  about  Jesus  Christ  the 
same  pantheistic  taint  runs  through  this  also. 
Mrs.  Eddy  says,  "  Christ  is  the  idea  of  truth, 
and  this  idea  comes  to  heal  sickness  and  sin." 
Jesus,  however,  is  different  from  the  Christ. 


36  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

Jesus  was  a  *' human  concept,"  born  of  the 
Yh'gin,  the  Virgin's  Son,  while  Christ  was 
God's  Son,  his  "spiritual  and  eternal  idea." 
(Pages  228  and  229.)  Yet  the  two  were  joined 
in  some  occult  way  by  the  union  of  the  divine 
idea  with  the  man  Jesus.  It  was  the  Virgin's 
Son,  who  was  man.  "  He  appeared  to  men  in 
such  form  of  humanity  as  they  could  under- 
stand and  perceive."  But  his  body  was  only 
an  appearance,  "  an  error  of  the  mortal  mind," 
a  delusion  to  which  He  lent  Himself.  There- 
fore, the  crucifixion  was  an  unreality,  the  pas- 
sion an  illusion,  and  his  sacrifice  for  sin,  a 
delusion.  Christian  Science  has  no  place  for 
sin.  It  is  only  "  a  false  belief."  Its  existence 
"  denies  God,"  (page  7).  As  man  is  a  part  of 
fi-od,  he  is  "  incapable  of  sin,"  (page  476).  The 
soul  cannot  sin,  (pages  464,  etc.).  ^.^ 

Eut  why  pursue  the  thought  further  ?|^  can 
only  say,  that  a  more  dreary  swamp  of  meta- 
physical contradictions  or  a  cruder  conglomer- 
#!tion  of  exploded  theological  heresies  thari 
Christian  Science  offers  I  have  never  se^enTj 
Jesus  taught  us  to  pray,  saying,  "  Our  FatherT^""^ 
but  Christian  Science  turns  Our  Father  into 
^  a  principle,"  and  why  pray  to  a  "  principle." 

St.   Paul  preached  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified,  yea,  risen  from  the  dead,  but  Chris-     • 
tian  Science  teaches  us  that  our  Lord  was  an 


THE   PHILOSOPHY  DANGER0U8.  37 

"  idea,"  "  which  dwells  forever  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father,"  (page  229). 

Mrs.  Eddy  says  we  cannot  sin  because  sin 
is  only  an  erroneous  belief  of  the  mortal  mind, 
but  St.  John,  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved, 
said,  "  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  Ave  de- 
ceive ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us." 

We  need  to-day  to  heed  the  admonition  of 
St.  Paul  to  "  keep  that  which  is  committed  to 
our  trust."  The  Catholic  faith  has  been  the 
church's  safeguard  from  errors  in  the  past,  and 
we  need  to  hold  fast  to  its  everlasting  truths 
to  guard  us  from  the  fascinating  delusions  of 
all  falsely-called  sciences  or  religions  of  to- 
day. "  Keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy 
trust,"  and  you  can  be  sure  that  the  old  faith 
and  the  old  religion  which  alone  have  met  the 
wants  of  men  in  the  past  and  have  stood  un- 
shaken by  heresies  nigh  2,000  years,  will  alone 
be  able  to  meet  the  real  needs  of  men  in  the 
present,  and  to  preserve  the  "  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  "  for  the  wants  of  2,000  years  to  come." 

"  If  thou  put  the  brethren  in  remembrance 
of  these  things,  thou  shalt  be  a  good  minister 
of  Jesus  Christ,  nourished  up  in  the  words  of 
faith  and  of  good  doctrine,  whereunto  thou 
hast  attained.  But  refuse  profane  and  old 
wives'  fables,  and  exercise  thyself  rather  unto 
godliness." — 1  Timothy  iv.  6  and  7. 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED. 

In  endeavoring  to  follow  the  admonition  of 
St.  John,  to  "  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are 
of  God,"  we  have  examined  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tian Science,  as  to  its  philosophy,  and  found  it 
opposed  to  the  common  sense  of  the  world, 
and  its  theory  likely  to  prove  a  formula  for 
corruption.  We  have  glanced  at  its  theology, 
and  found  its  idea  of  God,  a  spiritual  panthe- 
ism, contrary  to  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  as  the  Christian  world  has 
always  received  and  interpreted  them.  Its 
doctrines  about  Jesus  Christ,  are  in  one  sense 
novel,  and  present  Him  as  a  new  invention  of 
Mrs.  Eddy,  although  in  another  sense,  they 
can  be  shown  to  be  only  a  recrudescence  and 
fresh  mixture  of  a  number  of  old  and  exploded 
heresies. 

METHODS   OF  DISAEMING   CRITICISM. 

While  we  have  tried  to  be  fair  in  our  criti- 
cisms of  Christian  Science,  and  to  state  noth- 
ing which  is  not  true,  jet  we  have  not  hesi- 
tated to   speak   plainly,  and  to  condemn  its 
38 


MENTAL   HEALING   EXPLAINED.  39 

manifest  errors  and  absurdities.  Yet  there 
are  two  stock  phrases  which  Christian  Scien- 
tists use,  to  answer  all  unfavorable  and  dis- 
paraging criticisms.  The  first  is  that  of  "  ig- 
norance." They  say  the  critic  has  never  had 
a  revelation  of  the  "Divine  Principle,"  "he 
does  not  know  what  Christian  Science  is,"  and 
therefore  "  is  incompetent  to  speak  of  it."  The 
second,  is  the  cry  of  "  persecution." 

As  to  the  first,  it  is  a  confession  of  the 
vagueness  and  mysticism  of  their  system, 
which  uses  words  in  such  various  and  fanciful 
senses,  that  it  requires  a  special  illumination 
to  know  what  they  mean.  But  any  one  who 
has  studied  Christian  Science,  and  kept  his 
mind  clear  from  its  bewildering  confusions  of 
thought,  can  with  equal  truth  and  with  better 
reason  assert,  that  those  whose  minds  have  be- 
come imbued  (hypnotized)  with  its  occult 
phrases,  do  not  themselves  really  understand 
the  significance  of  the  system  in  which  they 
profess  to  believe. 

As  to  the  charge  of  "  persecution,"  the  Chris- 
tian Science  movement,  in  organizing  a  new 
church,  and  setting  itself  up  as  a  new  sect  and 
practically  inviting  Christian  people  to  leave 
their  own  churches  and  become  Christian 
Scientists,  naturally  and  necessarily  invites 
criticism    of    the    principles   on  which  it  is 


40  CHEISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

founded.  While  practically  teaching  that  their 
own  system  is  the  true,  and  only  true  one,  it 
seems  to  me  something  like  cant  for  them  to 
assume  a  role  of  injured  innocence,  and  claim 
that  they  are  being  persecuted  for  truth's  sake, 
when  the  falseness  of  their  theories  is  shown 
up. 

ANOTHER  PLEA. 

Yet  some  of  them  simply  say,  "  Why  not 
let  us  alone  ?  "  "  If  we  find  peace  in  Christian 
Science,  why  disturb  us  with  adverse  criti- 
cisms ?  "  Why  indeed  ?  Why  criticise  or  ob- 
ject to  any  untruths  or  false  theories,  if  peo- 
ple enjoy  them  ?  Why  condemn  any  evil  sys- 
tems or  delusions,  so  long  as  there  is  some 
good  in  them  ?  The  simple  reason  is,  that  un- 
truths in  theory  are  sure  to  lead  to  untruths 
in  practice. 

A   LOST  HERITAGE. 

That  which  first  drew  attention  to  Christian 
Science,  and  has  helped  more  than  anything 
else  to  win  for  it  the  place  it  holds  in  the  pop- 
ular mind,  is  its  system  of  mental  or  meta- 
physical healing.  In  this,  it  calls  our  atten- 
tion to  a  lost  heritage  of  the  Christian  Church ; 
but  the  question  is,  is  it  desirable  for  us  to  re- 
gain itf  NoAV,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
healing  of  bodily  diseases  was  a  part  of  the 


MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED.     41 

ministry  of  our  Lord.  His  mission  was  to  the 
Avhole  man.  Nor  again,  is  there  any  doubt 
that  the  apostles  possessed  and  exercised  the 
power  of  healing,  and  considered  it  a  part  of 
their  mission.  St.  Matthew  x.  1-8,  records 
that  Jesus  called  his  twelve  disciples  *'and 
gave  them  authority  over  unclean  spirits  to 
cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all  manner  of  dis- 
ease and  all  manner  of  sickness."  When  He 
sent  them  out  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the 
kingdom  He  said  to  them,  "Heal  the  sick, 
raise  the  dead,  cleanse  the  lepers,  etc."  That 
the  disciples  exercised  this  power  is  evident 
from  the  story  of  their  labors  in  the  Book  of 
Acts.  The  third  chapter  tells  of  the  healing 
of  the  lame  man  at  the  Beautiful  gate,  by  Peter 
and  John.  The  eighth  chapter  of  Acts  men- 
tions that  when  Philip  went  down  to  preach 
Christ  at  Samaria,  "Many  that  were  palsied 
and  lame  were  healed."  Acts  ix.  33,  contains 
records  of  the  cure  of  Eneas,  Avho  had  kept 
his  bed  for  eight  years.  Acts  xiv.  9,  bears 
witness  that  at  Lystra  Paul  cured  "  a  certain 
man  impotent  in  his  feet,  a  cripple  from  his 
mother's  womb,  who  had  never  walked." 

SPECIAL   INSTANCES. 

There  are  some  instances  which  deserve  es- 
pecial attention,  as  showing  that  the  presence 


4-2  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

of  the  healer  was  not  always  necessary  in 
order  to  effect  the  cure.  The  Gospels  mention 
four  cases,  where  Jesus  healed  at  a  distance, 
even  without  the  knowledge  on  their  part 
that  He  was  about  to  do  so.  Acts  v.  15,  states 
that  the  shadow  of  Peter  passing  by  cured 
multitudes,  both  of  men  and  women,  and  Acts 
xix.  12,  testifies  that  when  handkerchiefs  or 
aprons  were  carried  to  the  sick  from  St.  Paul, 
"The  diseases  departed  from  them."  This 
leaves  no  doubt  that  the  original  disciples  of 
our  Lord  regarded  the  healing  of  the  bodies  of 
men  as  a  part  of  their  ministry.  IS'or  was  this 
gift  confined  to  the  first  disciples.  The  epis- 
tles effectually  settle  that  it  was  not,  and  his- 
tory establishes  the  fact  that  for  Avell-nigh  300 
years  gifts  of  healing  seem  to  have  been  ex- 
ercised in  the  church.  But  gradually  the 
power  seems  to  have  died  out,  or  Christians 
neglected  its  use,  until  it  was  no  longer  consid- 
ered a  sign  of  the  indwelling  spirit,  and  at  last 
even  the  consciousness  of  its  possession  faded 
from  the  church  at  large.  Yet  here  and  there 
through  the  centuries  there  are  occasional  re- 
appearances of  the  power.  But  the  notion  be- 
came prevalent  that  the  gift  of  healing  was 
an  exceptional  gift — vouchsafed  only  for  the 
peculiar  emergencies  of  the  early  days  of  the 
church,  as  a  special  evidence  of  its  divine  mis- 


MENTAL   HEALING    EXPLAINED.  43 

sion,  though  there  is  no  intimation  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  warrant  any  such  conclusion. 

A   SUGGESTIVE  TENDENCY. 

Now  it  is  evident  to  any  one  who  has 
watched  the  various  forms  of  mental  thera- 
peutics which  have  arisen  during  the  past 
generation,  that  most  of  them  are  religious  in 
their  character,  and  indicate  a  tendency  to  re- 
turn to  a  belief  in  the  double  mission  of  the 
Gospel  as  Jesus  taught  it  and  his  disciples 
practiced  it.  This  is  suggestive  of  a  great 
truth,  which  both  the  wise  priest  and  the  wise 
physician  will  do  well  to  ponder — because  at 
least  some  diseases  are  the  result  of  sins,  and 
some  sins  the  result  of  disease,  so  that  to  save 
from  one  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  cure  the 
other. 

THE  METHODS   OF  JESUS. 

Let  me  say  a  word  here  as  to  the  methods 
of  healing  which  Jesus  employed,  as  explana- 
tory of  something  later.  As  we  examine  the 
cures  wrought  by  Jesus,  they  can  be  arranged 
under  four  heads.  First,  those  in  which  He 
simply  spake  the  word — such  as  to  the  blind 
man,  "  receive  thy  sight,"  or  to  the  man  with 
the  withered  arm,  "  stretch  forth  thy  hand," 
or  to  the  impotent  man  at  Bethesda,  "  Arise, 


44  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

take  up  thy  couch,  and  walk."  The  second 
class  of  cures  are  such  as  in  addition  to  the 
spoken  word  Jesus  had  recourse  to  personal 
touch,  when  He  laid  his  hands  on  people  and 
they  recovered.  This  would  seem  to  be  his 
usual  custom,  since  those  who  came  to  Him,  as 
a  rule,  besought  Him,  like  the  centurion,  to 
"  come  and  lay  thine  hands  on  her,  that  she 
may  be  healed." 

The  third  class  of  cures  were  those  wrought 
at  a  distance,  to  which  I  have  already  referred, 
and  the  fourth,  those  in  which  Jesus  resorted 
to  the  use  of  material  means,  as  when  He 
anointed  the  eyes  of  a  blind  man  with  clay 
mingled  with  saliva,  or  when  He  put  saliva  on 
the  tongue,  and  his  fingers  in  the  ears  of  one 
who  was  deaf  and  dumb. 


Yet  on  careful  study,  in  the  light  of  recent 
knowledge,  the  principle  which  underlies  them 
all  is  the  same,  and  the  variation  in  method 
was  adopted  simply  because  He,  who  knew  the 
temperament  of  each,  probably  adopted  the 
method  by  which  the  result  could  be  best  at- 
tained. I  have  mentioned  these  instances  in 
order  to  lead  up  to  the  principle  which  under- 
lies the  power  of  healing,  which  has  undoubt- 
edly been  exercised  by  many  in  the  past,  and 


MENTAL    HEALING    EXPLAINED.  45 

is  also  exercised  by  many  to-day.  Now,  in 
speaking  of  the  cures'  wrought  by  Jesus,  it  has 
been  the  custom  to  regard  them  as  supernatu- 
ral and  call  them  miracles,  as  if  Jesus  wrought 
them  solely  as  the  Son  of  God.  Yet  there  is 
nothing  in  the  New  Testament  to  support  this 
view.  Jesus  came,  as  perfect  man,  to  reveal 
the  powers  which  belong  to  perfect  manhood. 
He  had  no  thought  of  any  exclusive  use  of  his 
power  to  heal,  nor  even  to  forgive  sins.  He 
said  the  first  should  belong  to  all  that  be- 
lieved, and  to  his  disciples  He  said :  "  Whose- 
soever sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto 
them." 

THE   POWER  OF   HEALING,    THE   BIRTHRIGHT 
OF   MAN. 

As  I  mentioned  above,  the  history  of  the 
first  three  centuries  proves  that  it  was  not  his 
purpose  to  have  men  regard  the  power  of 
healing  as  exclusively  a  divine  jpow€y\  but 
rather  as  something  revealed  by  Him  as  a 
birthright  of  man,  God's  child ;  a  natural 
power,  natural  to  the  true  nature  of  man, 
whom  God  made  in  his  own  image,  and  in 
whom  He  breathed  a  portion  of  his  own  spirit. 
In  man's  ignorance  of  his  own  spiritual  self  he 
has  been  in  the  habit  of  calling  everything  he 
could  not  understand  miraculous,  and  attribut- 


46  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

ing  it  to  some  special  intervention  of  God,  or 
of  the  devil.  I  propose  to  show  that  it  is 
only  on  account  of  ignorance  of  our  spiritual 
selves,  our  lack  of  knoAvledge  of  the  marvelous 
soul  forces  which  God  has  given  us,  that  we 
do  so.  If  we  believed  more  fully  in  Jesus  , 
Christ,  we  should  believe  that  a  part  of  his 
mission  was  to  reveal  man  to  himself,  in  order 
that  he  might  know  that  his  true  life  was  a 
life  indwelt  by  the  spirit  of  God,  and  that 
with  God  nothing  was  impossible. 

We  have  made  but  little  progress  in  the 
knowledge  of  ourselves  for  many  centuries. 
Our  attention  has  been  diverted  to  things 
physical  and  material.  But  just  at  the  height 
of  our  materialism,  when  man  had  claimed  to 
find  thought  forces  in  the  grey  matter  of  the 
brain,  and  his  origin  in  protoplastic  cells,  the 
providence  of  God  turned  our  attention  to  the 
study  of  the  inner  spiritual  man,  and  led  him 
to  find  in  psychic  forces  the  real  forces  which 
make  and  control  the  life  of  man.  Psychology 
is  practically  a  new  science,  and  its  recent 
revelations  have  been  among  the  most  start- 
ling and  wonderful  discoveries  of  this  wonder- 
ful age. 

PSYCHIC   FORCES   CONTROL   FUNCTIONS. 

Let  us  apply  some  of  these  to  the  special 


MENTAL    HEALING    EXPLAINED.  47 

question  now  before  us  in  their  relation  to 
disease  and  its  cure.  The  ancient  wise  man  of 
Israel  said :  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so 
is  he."  There  is  a  profounder  truth  here  than 
the  world  has  yet  recognized.  Medical  men 
are  beginning  to  declare  that  the  mind  is  the 
most  potent  factor  in  nearly  all  physical  ills. 
Some  one  has  said :  "  We  feel  as  we  think  we 
feel.  If  we  think  we  feel  pain,  we  feel  pain ; 
if  we  think  we  feel  sick,  we  are  sick."  I  am 
not  speaking  of  merely  imaginary  ills,  but  of 
the  power  of  the  imagination  to  exercise  a  real 
though  unconscious  control  over  the  functions 
of  the  body.  The  books  tell  us  that  in  ex- 
periments medical  students  who  imagine  they 
are  bleeding  to  death  grow  weak  and  faint, 
and  that  one  student  actually  died,  when  only 
warm  water  was  spurted  over  an  imagined 
incision  in  an  artery  in  his  arm.  Fear  will 
not  only  blanch  the  hair,  but  will  paralyze  the 
heart  and  stop  its  healthy  action.  The  sight 
of  an  accident  has  thrown  persons  into  spasms 
from  which  they  have  died,  and  has  often 
given  to  nervous  people  a  shock  from  which 
they  have  never  recovered.  Dr.  Schofield,  of 
the  Koyal  College  of  Surgeons,  England,  says 
that  "  not  only  functional  and  organic  diseases 
are  caused  by  the  mind,  but  that  death  itself 
is  quite  common."    I  might  give  you  page 


48  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

after  page  of  instances  from  reputable  books 
and  medical  journals  which  prove  beyond 
gainsay  that  the  mind  not  only  produces 
certain  diseases,  but  that  it  also  is  important 
in  determining  the  effect  of  many  medicines, 
and  that  bread  pills  or  a  little  powdered  sugar 
— or  even  plain  water — would  often  produce 
the  effect  which  the  doctor  had  led  the  patient 
to  believe  it  would  produce.  Dr.  Schofield 
says  that  the  symptoms  of  many  diseases  can 
be  produced  in  a  patient  by  the  simple  sugges- 
tion of  them;  that  the  surest  way  to  be 
attacked  by  any  infectious  disease  is  to  be 
afraid  of  it,  because  the  mind  can  induce  the 
symptoms  of  diseases  by  thinking  about  them. 
I  could  bring  you  other  testimony  from  noted 
physicians  to  the  same  effect. 

THE   SECRET   REVEALED. 

Now,  this  is  the  remarkable  discovery  I 
, referred  to  which  has  recently  been  made, 
viz,  that  as  the  mind  can  undoubtedly  cause 
many  diseases,  unconsciously  to  itself,  so  it  has 
been  ascertained,  that  if  the  impression  of 
disease  can  he  removed  from  the  mind  the 
disease  itself  will  very  often  entirely  dis- 
appear. This  is  the  root  principle  which  lies 
at  the  foundation  of  all  mental  therapeutics. 
This  is  the  secret  of  all  the  cures  wrought  by 


MENTAL    HEALING    EXPLAINED.  49 

the  various  methods  of  healing,  whether  by  the 
Christian  Science  method  or  the  faith-healing 
method,  by  the  magnetic  or  a  dozen  others. 
They  are  all  simply  different  methods  of  re- 
lieving the  unconscious  mind  of  the  impression 
of  disease  and  implanting  in  its  place  the  im- 
pression of  ease  and  hope  and  health.  Christian 
Science  does  this  by  impressing  the  mind  with 
the  idea  of  the  non-existence  of  any  disease, 
by  denying  the  existence  of  matter.  This  is 
one  theory,  but  it  is  based  on  a  falsehood  and 
is  opposed  to  the  common  sense  of  the  world. 
Faith  cure  has  another  theory  and  magnetic 
healing  another,  and  so  on,  but  the  principle  un- 
derneath them  all  is  the  same.  Kow,  you  may 
find  a  key  which  will  fit  one  door  of  a  house, 
and  it  may  be  simply  a  coincidence,  but  if  it 
fits  and  unlocks  all  the  doors  you  are  justified 
in  thinking  you  have  the  master-key.  Such  is 
the  principle  whose  action  I  will  now  try  to 
explain  as  briefly  as  I  can.  If  any  of  you 
have  read  Dr.  Hudson's  "  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena  "  you  have  the  explanation  more 
in  detail.  In  a  few  words,  it  is  practically 
this :  Indirect  investigation  of  psychic  con- 
ditions induced  by  hypnotism  has  established 
the  fact  that  we  possess  two  minds.  Dr. 
Hudson  calls  them  the  objective  and  the  sub- 
jective minds. 


60  CHEISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

THE  TWO   MINDS. 

Dr.  Schofield  speaks  of  them  as  the  con- 
scious and  the  unconscious  mind,  others  refer 
to  the  hitter  as  the  soul — and  others  still  as  the 
subliminal  self.  In  ordinary  sleep,  when  the 
conscious  mind  is  dormant,  the  unconscious 
mind  continues  active.  Dreams  are  an  evi- 
dence of  this.  JS'ow  it  is  found  that  the 
unconscious  mind,  or  soul,  while  apparently 
incapable  of  inductive  reasoning,  is  the  seat  of 
the  memory  and  the  affections,  and  also  has 
the  power  to  control  the  functions  of  the 
body.  As  a  rule  it  receives  its  impressions 
from,  and  is  under  the  control  and  guidance  of 
the  conscious  or  objective  mind  with  which  it 
is  associated,  but  it  is  also  capable  of  acting 
independently.  JSTow  it  has  been  found  that  if 
the  direction  and  guidance  of  one's  own  ob- 
jective mind  is  removed  or  placed  in  abeyance, 
or  rendered  passive  by  sleep,  which  is  what 
hypnotism  is — or  in  any  other  way,  then  the 
subjective  mind  will  receive  impressions  and 
accept  almost  implicitly  the  direction  and 
guidance  of  the  objective  mind  of  another.  In 
the  hypnotic  or  sleep  condition  the  patient  has 
as  much  confidence  in  the  objective  mind  that 
controls  him  as  he  has  in  his  own.  If  the 
hypnotizer  assures  him  that  a  lead  pencil  is  a 


MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED.     51 

steam  engine,  or  that  a  chair  is  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  the  mind  receives  the 
image  suggested.  The  way  this  is  applied  to 
the  cure  of  disease  is  simply  this.  The  phy- 
sician has  a  patient  suffering  from  any  disease 
who  wants  to  be  healed.  The  desire  to  be 
healed  predisposes  to  faith.  If  the  healer  finds 
that  the  patient  has  perfect  faith  in  what  he 
says,  then  the  subjective  mind  will  receive  the 
suggestion  awake,  about  as  readily  as  when 
asleep.  And  the  differences  in  method  are 
simply  different  ways  of  securing  this  faith,  or 
the  yielding  of  the  subjective  mind  to  receive 
the  suggestion  of  the  healer.  This  is  essential 
in  all.  The  patient  may  not  be  aware  himself 
that  he  is  yielding,  but  until  he  does  so  noth- 
ing can  be  done.  The  secret  is  always — if 
thou  helievest^  thou  canst  he  healed.  But 
when  the  subjective  mind-  is  secured,  then  the 
suggestion  is  implanted,  that  there  is  no  pain 
or  sickness — or  that  it  has  gone,  and  "  as  a  per- 
son thinketh,  so  is  he."  Of  course,  in  deep 
seated  or  chronic  cases  immediate  cure  is  not 
suggested,  or  not  attained,  but  only  gradual 
improvement,  and  the  treatment  requires  fre- 
quent repetitions  of  the  "  suggestion." 

TESTIMONY    OF   PHYSICIANS. 

Dr.  Woods,  medical  superintendent  of  Hox- 


52  CHEISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

ton  House  Asylum,  England,  says  he  has 
treated  over  1,000  cases  by  suggestion,  and 
finds  it  a  most  potent  remedy,  not  only  in 
functional,  but  in  organic  troubles.*  Dr.  Keed, 
of  Cincinnati,  says  he  has  seen  it  relieve  pain 
more  speedily  than  morphine,  and  that  he  has 
seen  it  induce  sleep  more  quickly  than  chloro- 
form.f  A  j)rominent  physician  of  this  city 
tells  me  that  he  has  performed  painful  opera- 
tions simply  by  suggesting  to  the  patient,  while 
in  the  hypnotic  condition,  that  he  would  feel 
nothing,  and  the  operation  was  painless.  An- 
other physician  of  this  city  tells  me  that  he 
has  used  suggestion,  in  hundreds  of  cases,  both 
in  the  sleeping  and  waking  condition,  and  also 
at  a  distance,  with  results  which  if  he  had 
mentioned  them  ten  years  ago,  would  have 
caused  him  to  be  considered  the  rankest  kind 
of  a  lunatic.  He  says  he  can  cure  by  this 
method  any  case  whatever,  that  any  Christian 
Scientist  on  earth  can  cure ;  and  he  also  tells 
me,  having  made  a  professional  study  of  psy- 
chic laws,  that  I  am  perfectly  correct  in  stat- 
ing that  the  principle  is  the  same,  whether 
those  who  practice  it,  know  it  or  do  not  know 
it,  and  whether  the  method  is  called  Christian 
Science  or  Faith  Cure,  or  Scriptural  Healing, 

*  Journal  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  1897. 
f  Medical  Mirror,  Feb.  i,  1899. 


MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED.     53 

or  Divine  Healing,  or  Magnetic  Healing; 
whether  the  cure  be  attributed  to  bones  of 
saints,  the  holy  coat  at  Treves,  the  grotto  at 
Lourdes,  the  King's  touch,  or  to  charms  or 
idols. 

PEOPLE  OF  ONE  IDEA,  DANGEROUS. 

Christian  Scientists,  of  course,  deny  this, 
but  a  careful  examination  has  convinced  me 
absolutely,  that  the  secret  of  the  cures  in  all 
these  methods  is  scientifically  explained  by  the 
wonderful  control  of  the  soul  or  unconscious 
mind  over  the  functions  and  processes  of  the 
body.  I  have  no  time  to  mention  the  deduc- 
tions from  this  psychic  law,  as  they  relate  to 
what  is  called  "  auto-suggestion,"  or  the  power 
one  has  to  cure  one's  self.  All  wise  physicians 
are  recognizing  and  making  use  of  it,  and  will 
probably  do  so  more  and  more.  But  people  of 
one  idea  are  always  dangerous.  Doctors  who 
believe  in  the  wonderful  power  of  the  soul  or 
unconscious  mind  over  the  body,  say  they  have 
yet  to  hear  of  a  dislocated  or  broken  bone 
suggested  into  place  or  wholeness,  or  a  well- 
developed  case  of  cancer,  and  various  other 
diseases,  suggested  away.^  There  are  always 
two  sides  to  every  question,   and  while  the 

«  Note  Appendix.    The  Christian  Science  theory,  breaks  at 
its  strongest  point. 


64  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE. 

powers  of  the  mind  over  the  body  may  lead 
some  to  think  that  the  mind  is  all,  and  alone 
important,  yet  it  is  also  well  to  remember  that 
the  body  also  is  a  radical  part  of  man  in  this 
present  state  of  existence,  and  has  direct  rela- 
tion to  and  influence  upon  the  mind.  Materia 
medica  has  a  place  in  psychology  as  well  as  in 
physiology,  and  will  continue  side  by  side  in 
the  practice  of  the  wise  phj^sician. 

SHALL    THE   CHURCH   ENDEAVOR   TO   REGAIN 
ITS   LOST   HERITAGE? 

Now  shall  the  church  endeavor  to  regain  its 
lost  heritage,  and  the  clergy  return  again  to 
the  healing  of  the  body  as  a  part  of  their 
Christian  ministry  ?  I  have  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  with  a  little  practice  they  could  all 
do  so,  as  well  as  Christian  Scientists.  Would 
it  be  wise  ?  In  exceptional  cases  it  might  be, 
but  I  am  constrained  to  believe  that  the  best 
plan  is  for  the  clergyman  to  know  his  own 
business  and  to  cooperate  with  the  physician, 
and  I  believe  it  is  also  the  part  of  the  wise 
physician  to  recognize  the  aid  that  a  discreet 
clergyman  can  render,  especially  in  critical 
cases.  The  evolution  of  history  is  the  out- 
working of  God,  and  changed  methods  may  he 
an  indication  of  an  advance  in  His  jpurjposes. 
The    greater    knowledge  required  to-day  in 


MENTAL  HEALING  EXPLAINED.     55 

ministering  to  the  salvation  of  mankind,  indi- 
cates that  a  division  of  labor  may  be  of  divine 
ordering,  and  that  physicians  are  as  truly 
called  of  God  to  their  part  of  the  ministry  of 
saving  men,  as  the  clergy  are  to  theirs,  and 
that  it  is  not  wise  to  combine  the  two  again* 
One  profession  is  about  all  that  a  man  can  well 
attend  to.  The  sad  story  of  the  death  of 
Harold  Frederic  illustrates  what  I  mean/ 
When  stricken  with  paralysis,  the  condition  of 
his  heart  was  such  that  he  needed  rest  and 
quiet.  Physicians  said  that  his  life  could  un- 
doubtedly have  been  prolonged.  But  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  Christian  Scientists 
who  were  ignorant  of  those  physiological  laws 
which  the  researches  and  experience  of  cen- 
turies have  established,  and  they  encouraged 
him  to  walk  and  drive  and  go  about,  just  as  if 
"nothing  was  the  matter."  As  usual,  the 
healers  were  unwilling  to  consult  with  the 
doctors ;  they  must  have  the  whole  direction 
or  none  at  all.  So  he  went  about  under  the 
direction  of  Christian  Scientists,  as  if  "  noth- 
ing was  the  matter,"  and  the  sad  result  ^  you 
all  know.  ISTow,  this  illustrates  the  danger  in 
treating  according  to  any  psychic  method,  by 
those  who  have  no  education  in  anatomy  and 

'  See  note,  Appendix.     What  can  be  done  ? 

8  See  Appendix,  note  8.    The  most  devoted  adherents. 


5G  CHxilSTIAN    SCIENCE. 

physiology,  and  who  repudiate  the  experience 
and  common  sense  of  the  centuries  in  their 
devotion  to  any  one  "  idea-ism  "  which  a  rest- 
less age  may  offer. 

CONCLUSION. 

To  conclude,  while  Christian  Science  has 
much  that  is  beautiful  and  attractive,  yet  I  say 
that  all  of  it  can  be  attained  just  as  well  in  the 
church  by  those  who  will  seek  it.  I  must  say, 
also,  that  I  can  but  think  that  some  Christian 
Scientists  are  deceived,  and  mistake  the  play- 
ing at  metaphysics  for  the  cultivation  of  spir- 
ituality. My  advice  to  all  is,  not  to  be  carried 
away  by  the  fascination  of  the  new  "ism." 
Its  philosophy  is  dangerous,  its  theology  is 
heresy,  and  its  therapeutics  is  quackery.  Al- 
though your  soul  may  hunger  for  some  new 
and  more  spicy  food  to  feed  its  spiritual  long- 
ings, yet  I  say  this — that  if  you  use  faithfully 
{i.  e.,  with  faith)  and  earnestly  the  means 
which  Christ  has  appointed  in  his  church,  you 
will  surely  find  them  ample  to  minister  to 
your  soul's  truest  needs,  and  to  guide  your  feet 
in  ways  of  peace,  here  and  forever. 


APPENDIX. 

Note   1. 

Mrs.  Eddy's  "Revelation." 

An  article  in  the  Arena  for  May,  1899,  contains  almost  con- 
clusive evidence,  that  Mrs.  Eddy  was  indebted  for  her  "  revela- 
tion "  of  the  theory  of  Mental  Healing,  to  Dr.  P.  P.  Quimby, 
of  Portland,  Maine,  to  whom  she  formerly  went  for  treatment. 
The  article  claims  that  neither  the  name,  "  Christian  Science," 
nor  that  of  her  book  "  Science  and  Health,"  were  original  with 
her. 

See  also,  "True  History  of  Christian  Science,"  by  J.  A. 
Dresser. 

Note  2. 

Christian  Science  and  the  Bible 

Christian  Scientists  profess  to  respect  the  Bible,  but  a  more 
wretched  perversion  of  its  whole  meaning,  "  mortal  mind  " 
never  conceived.  The  ordinary  Christian  would  fail  to  recog- 
nize even  the  Lord's  Prayer,  under  Mrs.  Eddy's  interpretation. 
It  reads  as  follows,  and  is  used  in  Christian  Science  Services 
(page  332). 

Our  Father  which  art  in  Heaven, 
Our  Father  and  Mother  God,  all-harmonious^ 

57 


58  APPENDIX. 

Hallowed  be  Thy  name. 
Adorable  one. 
Thy  Kingdom  come. 

Thy  Kingdom  is  conies 
God  is  ever-present  and  omnipotent. 
Thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  Heaven. 

Enable  us  to  know — as  in  Heaven,  so  on  earth — God  is 
All  in  all. 
Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread ; 

Give  us  grace  for  to-day  ;  feed  Thou  the  famished  affec- 
tions. 
And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors. 

And  divine  Love  is  reflected  in  love  ; 
And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil ; 
And  leaveth  us  not  in  temptation,  but  deliver eth  us  from 
evil — sin,  disease,  and  death. 
for  Thine  is  the  Kingdom  and  the  power  and  the  glory 
forever. 
For  God  is  omnipresent  Good,  Substance,  Life,  Truth, 
Love. 

As  a  sample  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  picturesque  method  of  exegesis 
and  the  playfulness  of  her  etymology,  note  the  following  (page 

233). 

"  The  word  Adam  is  from  the  Hebrew  Adama/i,  signifying 
the  red  color  of  the  ground,  dust,  nothingness.  Divide  the  name 
Adam  into  two  syllables,  and  it  reads,  a  dam  or  obstruction. 
This  suggests  the  thought  of  something  fluid,  of  mortal  mind 
in  solution,  etc."  Yet  there  are  people  who  take  Mrs.  Eddy 
seriously,  and  really  believe  that  her  phrases  mean  something. 

Let  any  one  read  her  "  Exegesis,"  pages  496  to  517,  and  he 
will  find  that  she  becomes  so  entangled  in  the  jumble  of  her 
mystic  and  fanciful  interpretations,  that  in  order  to  extricate 
herself,  she  is  obliged  to  assert  that  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis,  "  is  a  lie  "  (page  517).  The  key  to  the  Bible  would 
be  amusing,  were  it  not  pitiful, 


APPENDIX.  59 

Note  3. 
Mrs.  Eddy's  Science. 

As  an  example  of  the  scientific  character  of  Mrs.  Eddy's 
mind,  and  her  (in)capacity  for  accurate  observation,  note  the 
following  astounding  passage.  Science  and  Health  page  549. 
"It  is  related  that  a  father,  anxious  to  try  such  an  experiment, 
plunged  his  infant  babe,  only  a  few  hours  old,  into  water  for 
several  minutes,  and  repeated  this  operation  daily,  until  the 
child  could  remain  under  water  twenty  minutes,  moving  and 
playing  without  harm,  like  a  fish." 

Let  any  one  put  a  newborn  babe  under  the  water  even  for  one 
minute,  and  if  the  « awakening  of  the  mortal  mind,"  (which 
Mrs.  Eddy  speaks  of,  in  the  previous  paragraph)  ever  comes  to 
that  child,  it  will  assuredly  be  in  the  «  Spiritual  Life,"  unless 
artificially  restored.  The  value  of  Mrs.  Eddy's  scientific  ob- 
servations can  be  readily  estimated. 

Note  4. 
Shrine  of  Bishop  Neuman. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  November  17,  1898.— The  fame  of 
the  miracles  wrought  at  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Neuman  in  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Fifty-eighth  street  and  Girard  avenue,  con- 
tinues to  grow,  with  the  result  that  every  day  the  number  of 
pilgrims  to  the  shrine  increases.  The  fathers  say  that  the 
number  in  a  day  reaches  into  the  hundreds. 

From  far  and  near  the  people  come,  afflicted  with  various 
ailments,  each  hoping  that  he  or  she  will  be  the  one  upon 
whom  the  next  miracle  will  be  wrought.  The  pilgrims  who 
come  are  not  confined  to  the  Catholic  faith.  All  denominations 
are  represented  there  at  various  times. 

The  chapel  is  opened  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 


60  APPENDIX. 

from  that  time  until  nine  o'clock  at  night  there  is  always  one  or 
more  persons  kneeling  upon  the  marble  slab  above  the  Bishop's 
dust. 

One  of  the  most  marvelous  cures  witnessed  by  a  father  was 
laid  before  the  court  of  inquiry  at  Rome.  It  was  the  case  of  a 
little  boy  who  was  ruptured.  When,  with  his  mother,  he 
passed  the  priest,  as  he  was  being  taken  to  the  chapel,  the 
priest  spoke  and  asked  what  was  the  matter  with  him  that  he 
looked  so  extremely  ill.  His  mother  told  the  father  the  cir- 
cumstances.  When  the  boy  was  taken  home  he  was  cured. 
He  ran  and  played  about  as  other  children,  and  from  that  day 
had  no  further  trouble.  Written  statements  from  the  doctor 
who  pronounced  his  illness  a  rupture  and  from  the  physician 
who  examined  him  later,  saying  there  was  nothing  the  matter 
with  him,  were  taken  to  Rome  and  laid  before  the  court  of  in- 
quiry. 

It  is  said  that  consumption  has  been  cured  there  and  cancer 
healed.  The  blind  have  seen  and  the  paralyzed  have  walked. 
The  tomb  of  Bishop  Neuman  gives  evidence  of  becoming  in 
time  as  celebrated  for  its  miraculous  cures  as  the  shrine  of  St. 
Anne  de  Beaupre  in  Canada. 

— St,  LouiSf  Globe  Democrat, 

Note  5. 
A  System  of  Deception. 

A  case  recently  came  to  my  knowledge,  of  a  young  lad,  a 
son  of  Christian  Science  parents,  who  fell  and  hurt  his  fore- 
head, producing  a  bruise,  which  became  swollen  to  the  size  of 
half  a  hen's  egg.  His  mother  said  to  him :  "  my  son,  there  is 
nothing  the  matter,  you  need  pay  no  attention  to  it,  there  is 
absolutely  nothing  the  matter."  She  washed  the  blood  from 
the  forehead,  and  the  boy  was  soon  out  again  playing  with  his 
companions.     One  of  the   neighbors,   coming   along,   said  to 


APPENDIX.  61 

him :  "  why,  Harry,  what  is  the  matter,  you  have  a  dreadful 
bruise."  He  replied,  "  there  is  nothing  the  matter,  at  all.'* 
But  it  was  plainly  evident,  that  something  was  the  matter. 
The  boy  was  being  taught  to  delude  himself.  Now  if  this  de- 
ception  is  taught  and  practiced  in  such  things — may  it  not  ex- 
tend  to  others?  If  matter  is  "nothing"  in  such  things  as 
visible  and  bloody  bruises,  is  matter  anything,  that  one  should 
hesitate  to  take,  in  the  form  of  money  or  pocketbooks  or  any- 
thing that  lies  handy  ? 

Note  6. 

The  Christian  Science  Theory  Breaks  at  the 

Very  Point  Where  Its  Failure  is 

Most  Easily  Demonstrated. 

Mrs.  Eddy  says  (page  392),  "  Have  no  fears  that  matter  can 
ache,  swell  and  be  inflamed,  from  a  law  of  any  kind,  when  it 
is  self-evident  that  matter  can  have  no  pain  or  inflammation. 
Your  body  would  sufier  no  more  from  tension  or  wounds  than  the 
trunk  of  a  tree  which  you  gash,  or  the  electric  wire  which  you 
stretch,  were  it  not  for  mortal  mind."  Yet  Christian  Scientists 
go  to  dentists  to  have  their  teeth — which  are  *«  illusions  of  the 
mortal  mind  "  filled,  with  other  «'  illusions  of  the  mortal  mind  " 
or  else  to  have  the  illusion  extracted.  Even  Mrs.  Eddy  con- 
fesses (page  100)  that  in  case  a  "  false  belief,"  called  by  ordi- 
nary people — a  bone,  becomes  broken  or  dislocated,  "  it  is  bet- 
ter to  refer  such  cases  to  a  surgeon."  Thus,  it  is  in  cases  most 
capable  of  accurate  observation,  where  the  absurdity  of  the 
Christian  Science  theory  becomes  so  evident  that  it  is  even  by 
Mrs.  Eddy  a  confessed  failure. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  stupidity  of  Christian  Science,  an 
oculist  gives  a  case  in  point.  A  convert  to  the  "  ism  "  who  had 
trouble  with  one  of  her  eyes,  was  treated  by  a  healer,  without 
success.     In  spite  of  all  her  efforts  to  make  believe  that  "  noth- 


62  APPENDIX. 

ing  was  the  matter,"  the  eye  continued  to  grow  worse,  until  in 
desperation  the  woman  went  to  consult  an  oculist.  He  dis- 
covered a  very  fine  splinter,  and  removed  it,  and  gave  imme- 
diate relief.  Here  was  a  case  where  no  amount  of  mental 
therapeutics  of  any  sort  could  avail. 

Note  7. 
What  Can  Be  Done? 

In  nearly  every  community  in  which  Christian  Science  has 
made  any  progress,  there  are  cases  where  the  ignorance  of  the 
Christian  Science  practitioners,  as  to  the  nature  and  causes  of 
disease,  and  their  refusal  to  cooperate  with  physicians,  have 
undoubtedly  led  to  the  premature  death  of  patients.  This  is  a 
sort  of  malpractice  which  is  criminal.  But  Christian  Scientists 
retort  that  when  physicians  are  parties  to  the  premature  death 
of  patients,  nothing  is  said.  And  the  fact  that  cases,  which 
even  skillful  physicians  have  "  given  up,"  have  been  cured  by 
the  various  methods  of  mental  treatment,  makes  the  plea  plausi- 
ble, and  helps  to  prevent  any  steps  being  taken  to  protect  the 
public. 

But  what  can  be  done  ?  Some  urge  that  the  state  authori- 
ties should  prevent  any  mental  or  metaphysical  healer  from 
taking  charge  of  a  case  until  the  opinion  of  some  competent 
physician  has  been  obtained  certifying  that  the  case  is  a  proper 
one  for  mental  treatment.  But  here  the  "  odium  medicum  " 
comes  in,  and  there  is  no  meeting  ground.  As  long  as  the 
Christian  Scientist  bases  his  theory  of  healing  on  the  non-ex- 
istence of  matter,  and  seeks  to  make  people  believe  that  he 
has  a  monopoly  of  the  divine  method  of  healing  in  order  to 
bolster  up  his  religion,  of  course  no  reputable  physician  could 
cooperate.  The  only  solution  that  I  can  see,  is  for  physicians 
generally  (as  some  are  doing)  to  study  psychology  and  to 
recognize  that  psychic  forces  are  far   more   potent   than  any 


APPENDIX.  63 

others,  in  the  treatment  of  certain  diseases,  when  the  pubhc 
will  cease  to  be  fooled,  and  there  will  be  no  more  need  for 
Christian  Scientists — nor  Faith  Curists  "  et  id  omne  genus." 

Note  8. 
The  Most  Devoted  Adherents. 

it  is  often  asked  in  surprise,  how  those  who  have  lost  mem- 
bers of  their  families  by  such  diseases  as  diptheria,  scarlet  or 
typhoid  fever,  under  Christian  Science  treatment,  where  lives 
have  been  sacrificed  by  the  credulity  of  parents  and  the  igno- 
rance of  Christian  Science  healers,  it  is  asked  how  such  people 
can  have  anything  more  to  do  with  the  fad  ?  Yet  it  is  just 
these  people  who  are  often  the  most  devoted  adherents  to  the 
cult.  They  cling  to  it  with  desperation,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  if  they  ever  allowed  themselves  to  doubt  it,  their  con- 
sciences would  accuse  them  of  being  parties  to  the  untimely 
death  of  those  they  loved. 


Christianity  Between  Sundays 

By  Rev.  GEO.  HODGES,  D.D. 

RectorofCalvary  Church,  Pittsburgh       vs,  ^.,^ 

26y  pageSf  I2m0j   neat  cloth    binding,   \    Price  fi,oo 

CONTENTS:    'f 

The  Credentials  of  Christianity — Business  on  Christian  Principles — The 
Dry  Brook — The  Beginning  of  the  Millenium — The  Holiness  of 
Holidays — Money  for  Man — What  a  Blind  Man  Saw — The  Brethren 
and  the  Brotherhood — The  Simplicity  of  Religion — Four  Ways  of 
Loving  God — The  Interview  with  Nicodemus — Religion  on  Business 
Principles — The  Border  of  His  Garment — The  Great  Commandment 
— Peter  and  Judas — Serving  God  for  Naught — Two  Stumbling-stones 
—Why  We  Ought  to  Love  God— The  Sick  of  the  Palsy— The 
Consolation  of  Religion — The  Proving  of  Philip. 


■■■'x 


"Di".  Hodges  believes  that  Christianity  means  the  bettering  of 
common  life  ;  that  it  has  just  as  much  to  do  with  business  as  it  has  with 
religion,  and  six  times  as  much  to  do  with  week-days  as  with  Sundays. 
There  are  2i  sermons  in  this  collection,  so  many  eloquent  proofs  that  the 
author's  religion  is  not  a  thing  kept  apart  for  Sundays,  but  taken  up 
every  morning  with  a  sense  of  consecration  to  his  Master's  business." — 
Public  Ledger. 

"  It  is  piquant  and  fresh.  The  sentences  are  clear,  short,  and  striking, 
and  are  turned  off  with  such  grace  and  ease  that  the  reader  is  captivated. 
And  in  point  of  manner  the  sermons  are  admirable." — The  Golden  Rule. 

**  The  English  habit  of  reading  borrowed  sermons  has  not  found  favor 
in  America ;  but,  if  some  thousands  of  ministers  would,  without  any 
concealment  or  deceit,  read  these  sermons  to  their  congregations,  it 
would  be  greatly  for  the  benefit  of  as  many  congregations.  But  it  would 
be  still  better  if  these  sermons  should  inspire  a  good  many  preachers  to 
follow  the  example  of  their  author  in  the  method  of  their  work," — The 
Christian  Register. 

' '  This  is  a  spicy  and  irresistibly  readable  book  of  short  essays  that 
have  a  moral  purpose  and  are  full  of  pertinent  illustrations." — Bost<ni 
Herald. 

"These  are  no  monk's  homilies,  and  have  no  trace  of  cloister  atmos- 
phere or  smell  from  lamp  or  gas  fixtures.  They  are  suggested  by  the 
needs  of  the  actual  men  who  live  in  Pittsburgh  and  elsewhere."— 7'-** 
Critic^  

THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  Pubfisher 

2  and  3  Bible  House,  NEW  YORK 


REMINISCENCES 

BY 

Thomas  March   Clark,  D.D.,  LL.D 

BISHOP   OF    RHODE    ISLAND 


12mo,  Cloth.    With   portrait  of  the  author 
Price  $1.25 


"The  book  is  a  most  delightful  one,  and  any  reader  who  fairly 
begins  it  will  not  lay  it  down  willingly  until  it  be  finished." 

'-The  Picayune,  New  Orleans. 

"All  churchmen  in  this  country  will  be  refreshed  by  a  perusal  of 
this  revival  of  the  times  and  the  men  that  are  woven  into  Bishop 
Clark's  biography.  A  list  of  the  names  of  the  latter  would  create  an 
instant  and  eager  demand  for  the  book.  It  is  written  sufficiently  in  the 
ana  spirit  and  style  to  give  it  zest  to  the  last  page." 

—  The  Courier,  Boston. 

"  His  life  has  been  a  busy  one,  and  it  is  a  matter  for  congratulation 
that  he  has  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  his  friends  and  published  a 
volume  of  his  reminiscences.  It  abounds  in  character  sketch  and  anec- 
dote, a  model  of  what  such  a  volume  ought  to  be.  It  has  not  a  dull 
page." — The  Advertiser,  Boston. 

"  The  book  abounds  in  pleasant  anecdotes  and  incidents  of  Church 
history  in  the  United  States  and  of  notable  characters  among  prelates 
and  pastors.  These  will  render  it  of  especial  interest  to  Episcopalian 
readers,  to  whom  the  names  are,  of  course,  more  familiar  than  to  others. 
But  the  intense  human  interest  that  pervades  the  book,  and  its  genial 
manner,  will  effectually  prevent  its  seeming  a  dull  volume  to  any  one." 

Inter-Ocean,  Chicago. 


*^^*/>r  salt'  at  all  bookstores,  or  copies  sent  post-paid  on  receipt  of  price 
by  the  publisher 

THOMAS    WHITTAKER 
2  and  3  Bible  House  New  York 


PSALM-MOSAICS 

^  BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  HISTORICAL 
COMMENTARY   ON   THE   PSALMS 

By    Rev.    A.    SAUNDERS    DYER,    M.A. 

589  Pages.    8vo,  Cloth.     Price  $2.50 


**  Let  no  one  be  misled  by  the  title  of  this  book  into  fancying  it  a 
work  of  dry  or  abstruse  theological  reading.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a 
very  lively  and  extensive  collection  of  matter  illustrative  of  the  Psalms, 
both  prose  and  verse  being  employed.  It  is  a  sort  of  commonplace 
book  on  the  Psalter,  evidently  the  work  of  considerable  time  and  exten- 
sive reading,  and  arranged  with  sufficient  orderliness  and  method  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  desultoriness.  It  is  a  book  to  lie  on  one's 
table,  to  be  taken  up  with  the  study  of  each  Psalm,  and  one  peculiarly 
rich  in  suggestive  matter.  For  instance,  on  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
sixth  Psalm  there  is  given  the  striking  story  of  its  use  by  St.  Athanasius 
on  the  night  when  his  enemies  attacked  the  cathedral  in  Alexandria,  and 
with  each  Psalm  is  usually  given  some  historic  association.^  A  good 
index  will  aid  the  reader  in  keeping  track  of  this  widespread  miscellany." 

—  T/ie  Churchman. 

"  This  is  a  good  book,  furnishing  much  fresh  historical  matter  illus- 
trative of  the  influence  of  the  Psalms  in  literature  and  biography,  and  it 
will  be  very  useful  to  all  Christians  and  especially  to  expounders  of  the 
Word." — N,  V.  Observer, 

"  A  magnificent  collection  of  biographical  and  historical  illustrations 
of  the  Psalms  gathered  as  a  devotional  help  to  th  *  reader  in  the  religious 
life.  It  is  a  commentary  of  unique  interest  in  its  wealth  of  fresh  and 
helpful  material."— T/^^  Parish  Visitor. 

"  Rev.  A.  S.  Dyer  has  prepared  a  unique  and  quite  interesting  book 
for  Bibhcal  scholars.  It  may  be  described  tersely  as  a  collection  of 
biographical,  historical  and  miscellaneous  illustrations  of  the  Psalms 
gathered  from  many  sources  and  classified  in  the  order  of  the  Psalms  to 
which  they  relate.  It  is  a  book  of  material  which  Christians  may  use  to 
advantage.  It  is  not  in  any  sense  a  connected  narrative,  but  a  collection 
of  diversified  incidents  and  suggestions  of  considerable  illustrative  value, 
and  ordinarily  of  even  greater  devotional  helpfulness." 

—  The  Con^remtionalist^ 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  Publisher 
2  and  3  Bible  House  NEW  YORK 


Date  Due 

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